When it comes to
chili sauce for Thai people, nobody would deny that they don’t know it intimately. Because chili sauce has been considered the food that pairs with the Thai house and Thai Kitchen since ancient times. There are many kinds of Thai chili sauce that are popular to eat. One of them is
Nam Phrik Ga Pi (Shrimp Paste Chili Sauce). Believe me that more than 90% of Thai People would have tried the taste of Shrimp Paste Chili Sauce. Although there are no official results from the survey to confirm whether this is true.
Shrimp Paste Chili Sauce is a chili sauce that has as one of the main components shrimp paste, and when making it we will start by putting the shrimp paste on the fire. Then pound it with other ingredients in the mortar. When it is finished, it will have a brownish purple color. Floating with Solanum torvum (Turkey Berry) and fresh chili. Shrimp Paste Chili Sauce is popular to serve with fried Indian Mackerel (Plah Too Tod) or fried eggs with Acacia pennata (Kai Tod Cha-Om) and fresh vegetables or scalded vegetables.
The delicious Shrimp Paste Chili Sauce, it must use a good quality shrimp paste. A good quality shrimp paste, mostly will come from around Ra-Yong province area exclusively. This is because shrimp paste from that area is made of authentic “Koey” and before making the chili sauce with it, you should wrap it in banana leaves, and grill to make it fragrant. When pounded to make the Shrimp Paste Chili Sauce then we will get a fragrant smell of shrimp paste, no rancid odor, and not too salty. The next necessary ingredient is Phrik Khee Nuu Suan. When smelled closely you will get the pungent smell of the chili up in your nose. Now it’s difficult to find them (if using a large Phrik Khee Nuu to make you will get a foul odor of crushed green leaves). For the palm sugar in this dish, it should be from Murng-Phet (Phetchaburi province), because it has the smell of coconuts and has a yellow cream color. Good dried shrimp, should be the dried shrimp of Chonburi province, which has a tight tissue and sweet taste. The body is also the right size and not too salty. And for the garlic this should be Thai small clove garlic that will have a pungent smell more than big clove garlic from China.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp shrimp paste
- 25 Phrik Khee Nuu Suan, take the stems off and rinse thoroughly (add more chili if you like it spicy)
- 10 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 Tbsp dried shrimp (soak in warm water to get soft, drain and when it’s time to pound will make the dried shrimps get rise)
- 10-15 Solanum torvum (Turkey Berry), (more or less as your preference)
- 1 tsp palm sugar
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1-2 limes, cut in half (depends on your preference), lime that has a thin shell will have a lot of juice in it
- 1 Tbsp warm boiled water
How to do…
1.Wrap the shrimp paste in banana leaves or foil and grill until fragrant (if you have a gas stove, I recommend that you press down flat with a frying pan or use a grill rack that particular for your gas stove only).
2. Pound the dried shrimp (that has already been soaked in the water) until fine. Then take it out and set it aside.
3. Add the garlic and chili in the mortar and pound until coarse. Then add the shrimp paste that has already been grilled. Pound together. Follow with the prepared pounded dried shrimp. Pound just enough to mix together.
4. Add the Solanum torvum (Turkey Berry), pound lightly just enough to break them. Season with palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Taste as you like, but should be a sour taste that predominates.
5. Put the chili sauce into a bowl and wash the mortar with warm water. Use the pestle to stir around the mortar, pour water from washing the mortar into the chili sauce bowl. Stir together again, and that is completed. Serve with steamed rice, fried Indian Mackerel (Plah Too Tod), fried eggs with Acacia pennata (Kai Tod Cha-Om) and fresh or scalded vegetables such as long yard bean, cucumber or eggplant, etc…
