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Posted on 11/11/2021 9:18:41 AM PST by mylife
Nam prik pao is versatile pantry staple in Thai cuisine, a thick, savory, sweet, and spicy. Primarily made from dried spur chiles, garlic, shallots, and dried shrimp. It's used as a flavor-boosting condiment for soups, stir-fries, salads, and fried rice. You can also used it as a spread for toast and sandwiches.
The "pao" in nam prik pao means to burn or grill, and it refers to the important step of charring the chiles, shallots, and garlic to develop their flavor before they're processed into a paste along with the shrimp, tamarind paste, fish sauce, palm sugar, and oil, and then cooked down in more oil.
FEATURED VIDEO How to Roast Mushrooms Nam prik pao has a distinct flavor. It's quite strong, which means that it isn't used "all the time." But because nothing else tastes quite like it, when a dish needs it, it's irreplaceable.
Like a prik gaeng, nam prik pao is traditionally pounded into a paste by hand in a mortar and pestle. This time-consuming process is one of the main reasons why most Thai people prefer to purchase jarred nam prik pao. Some homemade versions even call for frying shallots and garlic separately, rather than charring them, before processing them into the paste. I prefer a more streamlined approach in which I quickly char the ingredients under the broiler (traditionally the ingredients are dry-roasted in a wok or cooked over an open flame). I then use an electric spice grinder to pulverize the dried chiles and a food processor to bring the paste together in a matter of a couple of minutes.
I transfer the paste to a saucepan or wok, and cook it down with a generous amount of oil until the sugars begin to caramelize and the mixture takes on a jammy consistency.
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YUM!
FYI.
I have never had it, but it sounds like it would be delicious. In the world of Vietnamese sauces, I love Nước Mắm.
I could drink the stuff!!
I will try it if I come across it. I use sambal oelek and fish sauce. How fishy/pungent do the shrimp make nam prik pao?
Fregards
2 separate dives on youtube has provided immense enjoyment. First is Mark Wiens. This young man travels Thailand and the world eating! (With his wife and now 4 or 5 year old son) His reviews of the food are always positive—he .loves the people and cultures he visits.
He has visited scores of countries including Iran and Pakistan and eaten their stret food. He is American by birth and currently lives in Thailand.
The second find is a channel called Hot Thai Kitchen. Here a young woman that is very pleasing to this old man’s eyes takes us ingredient by ingredient on how to make Thai dishes. I have tried a few and all I can say is yum yum!
Huy Fong sambal oelek and chili garlic are always here along with Squid brand fish sauce.
How fishy/pungent do the shrimp make nam prik pao?
depends who you ask ;)
I will look them up. Thanks
We have a Thai restaurant here. I have fallen in love with Prik Pao. It is very, very, very good.
good stuff Maynard.
👍👍
I love larb and green papaya salad.
This sauce has a neat history. A reefuge from Vietnam started up the company and with only word of mouth advertising turned it into an 80 million$ a year empire.
Hai-YOH! Uncle Roger does not approve.
I prefer their chili garlic paste
Bkmk
Some times I get the feeling people just stick nonsense syllables together and try to pass the result off as a foreign delicacy.
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