Nuoc cham also known as Vietnamese dipping fish sauce can be found in almost all Vietnamese households. This recipe can also be found in Cambodian house holds known as Tuk Trey. Almost every family that uses this sauce in their household has their own recipe for this sauce. While most may be similar, the taste may differ because everyone has different taste buds and different techniques when it comes to putting the sauce together.
The sauce is composed of a mixture of water, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, thai bird chilies, and sometimes vinegar. Although I am not ethnically Vietnamese, I did grow up with this sauce in my household and I learned how to make it from my grandma. Typically you can find this sauce served with Vietnamese dishes such as fried spring rolls (cha gio), Summer rolls/fresh Spring rolls (Goi Cuon), Viet savory crepe (Bánh Xèo), any vermicelli rice noodle dish (Bun), pork chop over rice (com thịt nướng), and many other viet dishes. I want to note that sometimes the ratio for ingredients may differ depending on the dish. Some people may prefer it to be more sweet, or salty, or more tart for a specific dish.
My method of making this may have similar ratios to other recipes out there, however what sets mine apart is that mine requires the caramelization of the sugar. I have observed that others also do not “cook” their sauce while I do. What I mean by this is that after caramelizing my sugar, I add in the water and fish sauce and bring the mixture to a boil. I’ve observed that others simply just combine the ingredients in a bowl without heating it up. I’ve always learned my method from watching how my grandma did it so I never tried it any other way. It’s just the way I’ve grown to like it and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups water
- 1 ½ cup white sugar
- 1 cup Squid Brand Fish Sauce
- 1-1 ¼ cup fresh lime juice
- 4-6 Thai bird chilies
- 4 cloves of garlic
Directions:
- To make the sauce, you are going to want to start by adding the sugar into a pot. I personally prefer using a non-stick pan, as it’s always the easiest to clean, but any medium sized pot will work. Turn the heat to about medium to high heat to melt the sugar. The goal is to melt the sugar as much as possible, if not all of it. If you have a pot with a long handle, that would be the most ideal, as you will need to swirl the pan around to melt the sugar. However if you don’t, just have some kitchen gloves around as the pot will get pretty hot to handle.
- Once the sugar starts melting around the edges, carefully swirl the mixture around so you can melt the rest of the sugar. The reason why we don’t mix it with a spatula or a spoon, is because we don’t want the sugar to crystallize. Once the sugar crystallizes, it will not caramelize or melt properly. Our goal is to caramelize most if not all of the sugar.
- Continue to cook the sugar and melt it while swirling once in a while. Once most of the sugar has melted, turn the heat to medium low, as the sugar can burn relatively fast at this point. Once you’ve reached a nice amber color, slowly pour about 1 cup of water into the pot. Note that the mixture will seize and solidify once in contact with water but that’s totally normal. Continue to swirl the pan to dissolve the sugar with the water. You may at this point use a spoon or spatula to mix it.
- Once the mixture starts to heat back up, add the remaining water until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil and make sure all the sugar has properly dissolved.
- For this next part you will want to open any windows for the kitchen as the smell will be quite strong! If you are coincidentally doing this outside you are quite lucky. I have so many memories of walking into the house or waking up to the smell of fish sauce heating up on the stove. Back then I always hated it but now I’m pretty used to the smell of it ahaha.
- Add the fish sauce to the mixture and bring it to a boil. I promise you after the 100th time making this sauce you get used to the smell 😂😂. Once it comes to a boil set it aside to cool. If you want to use the sauce immediately, put it in a heatproof container and put it in an ice bath while giving it a stir every so often.
- While the sauce is cooling, mince the garlic and Thai chilies together. You can do this with a food processor, but since it’s a small amount I usually do it the fashion way with a knife. Whichever method you prefer, just make sure it is finely minced. Once minced, add it to the sauce and give. A good stir to combine everything together.
- Next you are gonna want to juice some likes for fresh lime juice. Buying the lime juice in the bottle is just not good enough. You will regret it and the sauce will not taste good at all. Squeezing limes is my most hated activity but I push through because it makes the sauce so amazing! Squeeze enough likes to make 1 cup and add it to the sauce and stir again.
- At this point you will want to taste the sauce to see if you need to adjust anything such as the sugar level, tartness, or even add more fish sauce if you don’t find it salty enough. everyone’s taste is a little different, but I personally like to add an additional ¼ cup of lime juice. At the end of the day just adjust the taste to how you like it as I won’t be the one in your house using the sauce 😅😅.
- Store the sauce in airtight container for 3-4 weeks in the fridge or use immediately. If you do not include the garlic, chili’s, and lime juice the sauce will last even longer in the fridge. Just add the other ingredients accordingly whenever you are ready to use it.
- If you happen to forget about the sauce and wonder if it’s still any good, just make sure that the sauce is clear and does not look cloudy. It should be a uniform color excluding the garlic and chili particles that will float around.
Nuoc Cham/Tuk Trey
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1 ½ cup white sugar
- 1 cup Squid Brand Fish Sauce
- 1-1 ¼ cup fresh lime juice
- 4-6 Thai bird chilies
- 4 cloves of garlic
Instructions
- Heat the sugar in a pot on medium high heat to melt and caramelize. Swirl the pan once in a while to help with the melting. Be sure to keep an eye on the sugar as it can burn easily.
- Once the sugar is mostly melted, turn the heat to medium low to prevent the sugar from burning. Continue to melt sugar as much as you can until it achieves a nice amber color.
- Add in 1 cup of water. and swirl the pan slowly until the sugar is no longer seizing. Once it comes to a simmer add the remaining water and dissolve the sugar completely.
- Once the water and sugar mixture comes to a simmer, add in the fish sauce and bring the sauce to a boil. (Open some windows)
- Remove the pot from the stove and pour into a heat proof container to cool.
- While the sauce is cooling, mince the garlic & thai bird chilies until finely minced then combine with fish sauce mixture.
- Add in the lime juice in small amounts and adjust according to taste.
- Store in the fridge when complete in an airtight container or use immediately.
Notes
- If you want to cool down the sauce rapidly, put it in an ice bath stirring every so often to help expedite the cooling.
- This makes 5 cups, so feel free to half the recipe if you don't plan on using it as often.
- You can store it in the fridge for up to 3-4 weeks. If you don't add the garlic and chilies right away, the sauce can be stored even longer.
- This sauce tastes the best when it is cold.
- Feel free to adjust the sugar & lime juice to taste. You may not like it as sweet or as tart.
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