Vietnamese Chili Sauce (Dip)

Title:
Vietnamese Chili Sauce (Dip)

Yield:
1 Batch

Categories:
Vietnamese,
Condiment




Ingredients:





     2    Dried red chilies


     2    Cloves garlic


   1/2 ts Sugar


     2 tb Fish sauce


     1 tb Vinegar


     1 tb Lemon juice






 Mince chilies and garlic finely and place in a mortar.  Mash with the


 heel of a cleaver or pestle.  Add sugar and stir until it dissolves.


 Add fish sauce, vinegar and lemon juice, stirring between each


 addition. This makes enough for 2 to 4 people.  I almost always


 double the recipe just to make sure there's enough.  I've kept it for


 long periods of time but unless you freeze it, it's past it's prime


 after a few days. This is a basic chili sauce used for a dip for


 chicken or whatever.


 


 Variations of this are found in Cambodia, Thailand and other Southeast


 Asian countries.  You can fiddle with it endlessly.  This is a good


 starting point.  The proportions shown here produce what I consider a


 mildly warm dip.  I generally use two to six times as many chilies,


 depending on their strength and how hot I want it.


 


 Variations:  use green serrano chilies instead of dried red ones, lime


 juice instead of the lemon juice or palm sugar instead of granulated.


 If you make it in a food processor, don't over process.  It should


 have small chunks of each ingredient rather than being a homogeneous


 liquid.


 


 The taste is sour and hot, very puckery.  It's great with poached or


 steamed chicken, duck or game hens.  Much better with basically bland


 dishes rather than something like curry which has it's own blend of


 spices. Good with Chinese white-cut chicken or Steamed Ginger Chicken


 with Black Bean sauce.  It's truly addictive and I often serve it


 with meals that are not Oriental in origin.  Should be good with a


 firm- fleshed white fish or boiled shrimp or crab.


 


 Fish sauce is a liquid made with anchovies and salt.  It's not really


 fishy tasting.  Look for it in the oriental section of supermarkets


 or at markets catering to Asian clientele.  Tiparos is a good brand


 made in the Philippines.  I prefer Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce, but


 they'll probably be harder to find.  Chinese fish sauce is NOT a


 substitute.


 


 Posted by Stephen Ceideburg Dec 8 1989.


 


 File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/cberg2.zip