This tangy hot, sweet, sauce is common in Thai restaurants and I put it on everything there except the tea. So I had to reverse engineer it. Came out darn good! Then I met Leela Punyaratabandhu online, bought her book Simple Thai Food, and there it is on page 187! Nailed it!
Leela says Nam Jim Kai means “dipping sauce for chicken.” That may have been the original plan, but you have our permission to use it anywhere you feel the need for sweet heat. I read once that the singer Trisha Yearwood puts it on waffles with a sunnyside egg on top! I think it really sings on fried foods. Sometimes I make a coleslaw and then sprinkle it on and pile the slaw on pulled pork: OMG.
Restaurants use red Thai bird chiles, which are hard to find and even harder to eat, right up there with habaneros and much hotter than jalapeños. For this recipe I have substituted red jalapeños which are more in line with my capacity, and easier to find. I have even made it with green jalapeños. Splash this on all Fried Chicken (page 000) and Onion Rings (page 000).
Makes. About 2 cups
Takes. 30 minutes
6 ounces (3 or 4) fresh red jalapeños
3 medium garlic cloves
1 cup water
1/2 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
About the peppers. The heat of the final sauce depends on how much of the chiles’ ribs you leave in. You can add more chiles if you wish or you can use serranos, or cayennes, or other hotter peppers, just beware that in a handful of peppers, some can be hotter than others, they can vary in heat depending on where they were grown or when they were grown, and that this sauce is not meant to be 3-alarm. I made a batch with habaneros once and it was delicious, but hard for me to handle.
Cooking mellows it and after a day in the fridge it loses a bit of its bite. Also, putting it on food tempers it, especially fatty foods. After you make it, if you feel you want more heat, you can add red pepper flakes. Most store-bought pepper flakes are loaded with seeds, so I strongly recommend you remove them. Then give them a day to soften and do their stuff.
About the vinegar. If you don’t want to buy unseasoned rice vinegar, you can use white vinegar or cider vinegar, but increase the water content by about 4 tablespoons since they are stronger.
About the cornstarch. This slightly thickens the sauce but also keeps it from separating.
1| Prep. Wearing gloves, remove the stems and seeds from the peppers. Chop them into large chunks. Peel and chop the garlic into quarters. Add everything to a food processor or blender and pulse it a little. Leave it a chunky so there are some pretty flecks floating around.
2| Simmer. Pour the blend into a saucepan, bring up to a simmer for 5 minutes, and turn off the heat. The simmering pasteurizes it by killing any bacteria on the ingredients. Don’t let it bubble more than a gentle simmer or the sugar can foam up, overflow, and burn on the sides of the pot.
3| Age it a day. Pour into a very clean jar. I think it is best after a day of aging. It will keep forever in the fridge although it may lose some of its kick and the natural pectins will make it thicker. Although the cornstarch keeps the chile bits floating magically. Shake before using.
4| Taste the sauce after it has aged a day. Then, if you wish, you can then add red pepper flakes, sugar, or vinegar to your taste.
Leela says Nam Jim Kai means “dipping sauce for chicken.” That may have been the original plan, but you have our permission to use it anywhere you feel the need for sweet heat. I read once that the singer Trisha Yearwood puts it on waffles with a sunnyside egg on top! I think it really sings on fried foods. Sometimes I make a coleslaw and then sprinkle it on and pile the slaw on pulled pork: OMG.
Restaurants use red Thai bird chiles, which are hard to find and even harder to eat, right up there with habaneros and much hotter than jalapeños. For this recipe I have substituted red jalapeños which are more in line with my capacity, and easier to find. I have even made it with green jalapeños. Splash this on all Fried Chicken (page 000) and Onion Rings (page 000).
Makes. About 2 cups
Takes. 30 minutes
6 ounces (3 or 4) fresh red jalapeños
3 medium garlic cloves
1 cup water
1/2 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
About the peppers. The heat of the final sauce depends on how much of the chiles’ ribs you leave in. You can add more chiles if you wish or you can use serranos, or cayennes, or other hotter peppers, just beware that in a handful of peppers, some can be hotter than others, they can vary in heat depending on where they were grown or when they were grown, and that this sauce is not meant to be 3-alarm. I made a batch with habaneros once and it was delicious, but hard for me to handle.
Cooking mellows it and after a day in the fridge it loses a bit of its bite. Also, putting it on food tempers it, especially fatty foods. After you make it, if you feel you want more heat, you can add red pepper flakes. Most store-bought pepper flakes are loaded with seeds, so I strongly recommend you remove them. Then give them a day to soften and do their stuff.
About the vinegar. If you don’t want to buy unseasoned rice vinegar, you can use white vinegar or cider vinegar, but increase the water content by about 4 tablespoons since they are stronger.
About the cornstarch. This slightly thickens the sauce but also keeps it from separating.
1| Prep. Wearing gloves, remove the stems and seeds from the peppers. Chop them into large chunks. Peel and chop the garlic into quarters. Add everything to a food processor or blender and pulse it a little. Leave it a chunky so there are some pretty flecks floating around.
2| Simmer. Pour the blend into a saucepan, bring up to a simmer for 5 minutes, and turn off the heat. The simmering pasteurizes it by killing any bacteria on the ingredients. Don’t let it bubble more than a gentle simmer or the sugar can foam up, overflow, and burn on the sides of the pot.
3| Age it a day. Pour into a very clean jar. I think it is best after a day of aging. It will keep forever in the fridge although it may lose some of its kick and the natural pectins will make it thicker. Although the cornstarch keeps the chile bits floating magically. Shake before using.
4| Taste the sauce after it has aged a day. Then, if you wish, you can then add red pepper flakes, sugar, or vinegar to your taste.
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