Nuoc Chanh Ot

Nuoc Chanh Ot is a delicious citrusy dipping sauce which is called in the western world a spicy and sweet lemon sauce. It is a sauce that has similar ingredients to nuoc cham as well as the ginger dipping sauce but tends to be much more spicy and concentrated. A pestle and mortar is ideal for pounding all the main ingredients together to create a rough paste.

serving size: 1 cup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup lemon juice with pulp but no seeds
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce – nuoc mam is excellent here.
• 3 Thai chillies, Birds-Eye, Demon and others of similar heat will work. Check the Scoville units on the bought ones.
• 1-2 garlic cloves – peeled, crushed and minced or chopped finely

Preparation:

1. Using a pestle and mortar, add all the ingredients except the fish sauce together and pound away to make a paste. If this equipment is not available then put in a kitchen blender and pulse blitz to get a rough paste. Don’t overdo otherwise it comes out strangely cloying and sticky.
2. Add the fish sauce and stir in.
3. Leave for 20 minutes for the flavour to infuse properly.
4. Use immediately or pour into a glass jar such as a small one, seal with a lid and keep in the refrigerator. Use within two days!