Vietnamese chicken satay with nuoc cham

Nuoc cham is basically a sweet and sour sauce. What gives it a piquant twist is the addition of fish sauce. Whether chilis are a traditional ingredient of nuoc cham, I do not know. But chilis give the sauce a kick that really heightens the otherwise delicate flavors of the lemongrass satay.

You will need:

2 finger chilis
half a head of garlic
1/4 c. of sugar
the juice of 1 lime (substitute lemon if lime is not available)
1 tbsp. of vinegar (I used cane vinegar)
3 tbsps. of patis (fish sauce) 1/2 c. of water
1/2 tsp. of salt

Cut off the stems of the chilis, slit them lengthwise and scrape off the seeds with a knife, a teaspoon or (this is the most effective) your thumb. Chop the chilis.

Crush the garlic and discard the skins. Place the garlic and chilis in a mortar, pound and grind to a paste. You can do it the modern way by just dumping the chilis and garlic in a food processor.

Mix the garlic-chili paste with the rest of the ingredients. I suggest you place them all in a jar with a screw-type cap. Just shake the jar until the sugar dissolves and you have your nuoc cham.

That’s my nuoc cham. I purposely refrained from placing it in the fridge to find out how long its shelf life is.

In the mood for more food?

1. Tokwa’t isda sa gata (fish and tofu in coconut milk)
2. Sunday morning at the Market at the Hills
3. Oriental lima bean balls
4. Lengua (ox tongue) in cream and corn sauce
5. Biko (sticky rice cake)
6. Braised bangus (milkfish) fillets
7. Crazy Crepes
8. Mango syrup for pancakes
9. Bulalo picadillo
10. Cilantro (coriander leaves)

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