Homemade Prik Nam Pla (Thai hot sauce)

Thai chilis

A handful of years ago while attending the paralegal program at Cal State University, East Bay campus, my classmate and friend Emily brought me some steamed rice and a sealed container of homemade Prik (Thai chili) Nam Pla (fish sauce).  I LOVE hot sauce and I'd never had anything similar to this; throughout our semesters together, from time to time, she'd surprise me with this Thai treat. Her Thai neighbor made the recipe from memory, but I have found a few online that are all very simple and achieve a similar result.

I loosely followed a recipe I found, changing it slightly to fit my personal taste.
 

Red onion and garlic

Original recipe:
3 Tablespoons fish sauce
3 cloves garlic
4 Thai chili
3 pieces of lime
3 Tablespoons sugar
Red onion (no amount specified)





I made the recipe as directed but only used almost 2 Tb of sugar (we ran out). The result was a slightly salty hot sauce, that wasn't hot enough for me (I can handle "very spicy") so I added:


Tiparos brand fish sauce - $2

3 more Tb fish sauce
2 cloves garlic
7 Thai chili
Lime juice (I gave the bottle a good squeeze!)
Red onion (chopped very fine)
2 Tb rice vinegar
Sesame oil - just a splash
Parsley






Rice vinegar, sesame oil, & lime juice

 Prik Nam Pla is generally used as a condiment but is also a good dip.  The hot sauce is still a little bit salty for me. Fish sauce is made from sardine extract so I'm trying to think of something that will help balance the strong salt taste. This is probably why it's so good over rice. Perhaps a little extra parsley in my next batch will help a little. 


I purchased my fish sauce at a local Asian (Korean) market for $2.  The rest of the items I already had. I buy Thai chili peppers at the local produce market, along with my parsley, red onions, and peeled garlic. All of the ingredients are inexpensive and the recipe is fast and simple.









 Don't let the idea of liquid fish in a bottle scare you - my husband said "fish sauce" makes his skin crawl.  It's full of flavor and a staple of most Southeast Asian countries. Fresh, homemade hot sauce is a wonderful and healthy way to spice up your cooking and is especially delicious on fresh vegetables and other side dishes.

Final product - Prik Nam Pla