A bright, uncooked blender sauce of lime, fish sauce, and chili for wings, chicken sandwiches, noodles, and tofu. It’s sour, sweet, and very mildly spicy (according to our family), and doubles as a marinade.
Ingredients
To purée
- 60 g (about 3½ tbsp) Thai chili paste
- 120 ml (½ cup) fish sauce
- 150 ml lime juice (about 5 limes)
- 60 g (½ cup) brown sugar
- 20 g (about 1½ tbsp) neutral oil
- 40 g (1 medium) shallot, roughly chopped
- 20 g garlic, finely minced
- 10 g ginger, finely minced
- 2–4 red Thai chilies, seeds removed, roughly chopped
- 1–2 cups cilantro (the top of a small bunch), roughly chopped
- 5 g (about 1¼ tsp) Accent MSG
- 10 g salt, to taste
After puréeing
- 1 red Thai chili, seeds removed, finely chopped
- zest of the limes
Garnish
- ¼ cup finely sliced green onions
Method
Purée the main ingredients in a blender, stopping before the sauce is completely smooth. Taste and add salt as needed.
Stir in the chopped chili and lime zest with a spoon.
Let it rest, then taste one final time and adjust the salt and acid. It should be sweet and sour, and mildly spicy.
Garnish with the green onions.
Notes
- As a marinade, keep it to 30 minutes for shrimp and a few hours at most for chicken and pork. The acid denatures the proteins and can make them chalky.
- Look for real ingredients on the chili paste label (Aroy-D is a good brand in our area).