Vietnamese Fish Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

Today, I made my first batch of  Vietnamese Spicy Fish Sauce, courtesy of a recipe I found on recipezaar.com (see below). Boy, what an experiment this was! It was all about trial and error, tasting and re-tasting! I tried to make it according to the recipezaar recipe, but after tasting it, it was really too strong for me. I had to add about one or two more cups of water to the suggested amount and a lot more sugar to sweeten it up more. I just eyeballed it and kept adding more water little by little and a teaspoon of sugar little by little until it reached a nice balance between salty, spicy and sweet. (If I had to guess how much extra sugar I added, I'd have to say I added about 3-5 extra teaspoons. But again, it was all based on taste). I used one freshly squeezed lime and I minced the garlic instead of using a press (but next time, I'll use a press because I didn't mince it fine enough this time). Instead of whole, fresh chilies, I used some crushed red pepper flakes (about 1 heaping teaspoon). I think if I use this recipe again, instead of adding more water, I'll just cut down on the amount of fish sauce and build from there, so I don't have to use a huge jar to store it in. (I was hoping to store it in a small jelly jar).


At least now I have some yummy Vietnamese spicy fish sauce to use on everything from noodles, to spring rolls, to chicken!


If you don't want to make a huge batch of Vietnamese fish sauce, there's a quick Mnemonic device that makes it easier to remember how to make it: the 1-2-2-3 method. You use 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of lime juice (or rice vinegar if you don't have limes around) and 3 tablespoons of water. Stir it up and then you can add a small handful of shredded carrots for garnish or add more flavor by mixing in some chili garlic sauce. Taste it and adjust it to your liking (if you want it sweeter, add more sugar, or add more water to dilute it more). I think I prefer the 1-2-2-3 method for making Vietnamese fish sauce because it's quicker and you can "cheat" by just adding chili garlic sauce, instead of mincing your own chili and garlic when you are short on time.

Here's the recipe from recipezaar.com:

               Ingredients

• 2 red chili peppers, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed
• 3 teaspoons sugar or 1 1/2 packages artificial sweetener
• 1/2 cup fish sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, to taste
• 1 cup water

              Directions

1. 
   
   
   

   1

   Mash peppers, garlic and sugar into a paste, using mortar and pestle.
2. 
   
   
   
   

   2

   Add the fish sauce, lime juice and water.
3. 
   
   
   
   

   3

   Blend well.
4. 
   
   
   

   4

   Seal and refrigerate.