Used widely for spring rolls, this also tastes great with plain grilled meat or chicken or spooned over lightly steamed vegetables. You can substitute soy sauce for the nuoc mam (usually called nam pla in this book and described on page 500, but in any case Southeast Asian fish sauce) if you prefer.

Ingredients

　　1/4 cup nuoc mam or nam pla

　　1/4 cup fresh lime juice

　　1 teaspoon minced garlic

　　1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger

　　2 tablespoons sugar

　　1 small fresh chile, preferably Thai, stemmed, seeded, and minced, or hot red pepper flakes to taste

　　Combine all the ingredients and stir to blend. Let sit for a few minutes before serving. This keeps well, refrigerated, for a day or two, but no longer. Bring back to room temperature before serving.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.