This sauce is intensely flavored by lots of lime juice, which rounds out the edges of the shrimp sauce (mam tom), a salty, pungent fermented staple of the Viet kitchen. The fish sauce lends savoriness, the chiles add heat, and the sugar softens everything. Although the rice vinegar is optional, it helps smooth out all the flavors. This sauce is the traditional condiment with turmeric catfish with rice noodles (page 226).

　　

Ingredients

makes about 1 cup

　　6 tablespoons fresh lime juice (3 limes)

　　1 tablespoon unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar (optional)

　　1 tablespoon fine shrimp sauce

　　3 tablespoons fish sauce

　　2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

　　1/4 cup water

　　2 or 3 Thai or serrano chiles, thinly sliced (optional)

　　

Step 1

In a small bowl, combine the lime juice and vinegar. Whisk in the shrimp sauce, blending well. Add the fish sauce, sugar, and water and whisk to dissolve the sugar. Taste and adjust as needed to arrive at a pleasantly tangy, sweet, salty, pungent sauce. A little more lime (up to 1 tablespoon) will tame the pungency and sweetness. If the overall flavors are too intense, add water by the teaspoonful. If you like shrimp sauce, whisk in more. When you are satisfied with the balance, add the chiles and set aside for 30 minutes to let the flavors develop before serving.

　　

Step 2

Put the sauce on the table so that diners can serve themselves, or divide among individual dipping sauce bowls. It may be prepared 2 to 3 hours in advance and left at room temperature until serving.

　　Reprinted with permission from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors by Andrea Nguyen. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Copyright © 2006.  Photographs by Leigh Beisch. Buy the full book from Amazon or Bookshop.