Sweet-and-Sour Vietnamese Dipping Sauce

Name: Sweet-and-Sour Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
Yield: Makes 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients: 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic; 1 teaspoon ground chile paste; 1 Thai bird chile, or Serrano pepper, chopped (optional); 1/4 cup Asian fish sauce (nam pla); 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice; 1/4 cup sugar; 2 tablespoons grated carrots, for garnish

Known as nuoc cham, this dipping sauce appears on almost all Vietnamese tables.

Source: Martha Stewart Living, July/August 1996

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Yield

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground chile paste
1 Thai bird chile, or Serrano pepper, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce (nam pla)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons grated carrots, for garnish

Directions

1. With a mortar and pestle, pound garlic, chile paste, and fresh chile into a paste (or mince together with a knife). Transfer to a bowl. Add fish sauce, 2/3 cup hot water, lime juice, and sugar. Whisk together until sugar dissolves. Serve sprinkled with carrots.