Nuoc cham sauce

Name: Nuoc cham sauce
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: a small bowl
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 1 1/2 tbsp finely grated palm sugar; 1 small clove garlic, smashed; 60ml fish sauce; 2 limes, juiced; 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar; 1 stem lemongrass (pale base only), finely chopped; 2 bullet chillies, seeds in, finely chopped

February 4, 2014

Nuoc cham is a classic Vietnamese sauce that is great served with noodle, fish and meat recipes.Marcel Aucar

easyTime:< 30 minsMakes:a small bowl

Nuoc cham is a classic Vietnamese sauce flavoured with lime, lemongrass, chilli and palm sugar. Like its Thai counterpart, its success relies on the balance between sweet, salty, hot and sour. Nuoc cham is great on just about everything - drizzled over rice noodle salad, with rice paper rolls, or served with grilled or fried fish or meat.

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp finely grated palm sugar
1 small clove garlic, smashed
60ml fish sauce
2 limes, juiced
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 stem lemongrass (pale base only), finely chopped
2 bullet chillies, seeds in, finely chopped

Method

1. Combine the sugar, garlic, fish sauce and 50 millilitres of water in a small bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and allow to stand for five minutes before using. You can adjust the nuoc cham with more lime, sugar, chilli or fish sauce if needed.
Recipes with nuoc cham sauce
- Roast duck and pickled mushroom rice-paper rolls
- Poached chicken salad with young coconut