Nam Pla Prik (Thai Chile Condiment)

[Slaughter]

A classic Thai condiment based on fish sauce (Nam Pla) and chiles (Prik). This is great over most anything: rice, noodles, soups, fruits, etc. Note that you might not always see this in a Thai restaurant here in the U.S. More often you would see dried roasted dried chiles in soy bean oil (Nam Prik Pao). There is no exact recipe for this. Some add lime; some do not. My version, which is a small batch, consisted of the following:

5 Fresh Thai chiles (1 to 1-1/2 inch, various colors; adjust number of chiles to your taste)
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 scant tsp sugar
1 Tbsp water
Juice of 1 medium (real juicy) lime

This will actually mellow out over time, so you can make it ahead of time when you are serving a Thai meal.

namplaprik_01.jpgnamplaprik_02.jpg

Another version, that is strictly a whole lot of chiles and only fish sauce can be seen here.

[drunken_chef]

Ive been making this forever. one of my LONG time faves. I prefer little or no sugar.

again, nice post slaughter!

edit: here in SoCal you see both Nam Pla Prik and Nam Prik Pao in pretty much every Thai restaurant.

[K PhaNTOM]

The water in the toilet would steam right out after pooping this one out.

[trip202]

The water in the toilet would steam right out after pooping this one out.

[Slaughter]

Ive been making this forever. one of my LONG time faves. I prefer little or no sugar.

again, nice post slaughter!

edit: here in SoCal you see both Nam Pla Prik and Nam Prik Pao in pretty much every Thai restaurant.

For the restaurants I see without both on the table, I think because the fresh version costs more and is scary to people (like Phantom) they tend to save the fresh chiles for use in the kitchen.

The water in the toilet would steam right out after pooping this one out.

It's a good burn.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Man my wife makes quart jars of that stuff, but adds finely sliced garlic to it. Num Num. She makes about 6 different sauces to go on stufff. I like the sweet soy she uses on duck. I put the hot stuff on meat and rice most of the time. Main dish is rice and a soft fried egg with the fish sauce garlic on it for breakfast. She eats a very hot Papaya salad that even I cant eat it's so tough.

I tell you the truth, I've eaten spicy food for so long I think I'm addicted to it. I have a hard time eating just plain american food without putting something on it.

Oh, and our garden is full of thai chilis and garlic right now. But we still make trips to the Asian market to get other things. That other sauce you mentioned with the dried chilis in oil we get there too. I Think it's out of china. I mix that in noodle soups and stuff.

And you're right Slaughter, the sauce you mentioned is so good.

[NateTheBrewer]

Man my wife makes quart jars of that stuff, but adds finely sliced garlic to it. Num Num. She makes about 6 different sauces to go on stufff. I like the sweet soy she uses on duck. I put the hot stuff on meat and rice most of the time. Main dish is rice and a soft fried egg with the fish sauce garlic on it for breakfast. She eats a very hot Papaya salad that even I cant eat it's so tough.

I tell you the truth, I've eaten spicy food for so long I think I'm addicted to it. I have a hard time eating just plain american food without putting something on it.

Oh, and our garden is full of thai chilis and garlic right now. But we still make trips to the Asian market to get other things. That other sauce you mentioned with the dried chilis in oil we get there too. I Think it's out of china. I mix that in noodle soups and stuff.

And you're right Slaughter, the sauce you mentioned is so good.

If you drink bloody mary's, take some dry chil's, pack them in a mason jar, and pour vodka over them. Then leave the jar in a warm place for a few months... Once it is spicy enough, you can actually keep topping it off after you take some out for another few months until it start losing potency.

I currently have one with thai chilis, one with poblanos, and one with chipotles. I have some habaneros hanging to dry right now, going to only use one per bottle.

It's great because you can get your bloody mary just right flavor-wise, and get the spice from the vodka, and the spice that you do get seems to dissolve in better.

You can also use the stuff to easily infuse spice into things you are cooking without adding paste/oil/etc. like you would from using hot sauce.

I still have a tiny bit of envy that your wife is able to cook, and an ethnic food at that - my wife is still learning, she was never really taught to cook, so I do all the cooking but am slowly teaching her what I know.

[Dead...Again]

If you drink bloody mary's, take some dry chil's, pack them in a mason jar, and pour vodka over them. Then leave the jar in a warm place for a few months... Once it is spicy enough, you can actually keep topping it off after you take some out for another few months until it start losing potency.

I currently have one with thai chilis, one with poblanos, and one with chipotles. I have some habaneros hanging to dry right now, going to only use one per bottle.

It's great because you can get your bloody mary just right flavor-wise, and get the spice from the vodka, and the spice that you do get seems to dissolve in better.

You can also use the stuff to easily infuse spice into things you are cooking without adding paste/oil/etc. like you would from using hot sauce.

I still have a tiny bit of envy that your wife is able to cook, and an ethnic food at that - my wife is still learning, she was never really taught to cook, so I do all the cooking but am slowly teaching her what I know.

I'm going to have to try that. How many chilis do you normally put in the jar? Fill it to the top?

[juneau]

I love this! Om nom nom.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

I think in the near future I'll post pics of some of the stuff she's fixed. She likes to take pictures of the specialty dishes she fixes for me.

Yea Juneau, reading these threads flings a cravin on me.

[Slaughter]

I think in the near future I'll post pics of some of the stuff she's fixed. She likes to take pictures of the specialty dishes she fixes for me.

Please do!

[NateTheBrewer]

I'm going to have to try that. How many chilis do you normally put in the jar? Fill it to the top?

In a 750 mL Elijah Craig bottle (I save these because they have a very wide mouth for putting stuff in them) I have about 10 dried chilis if they are about 2-3 inch long ones. For the bigger peppers, less. You really can't go too many, as you can always dilute with more un-infused vodka. Plus, they look great sitting on a shelf with the sun shining through them.

This Sunday brunch if I remember when I make bloody marys, I will take some photos and post in a new thread so I can stop hijacking this one...