Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

5 min
1 servings

A quick and easy recipe for Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham / Nuoc Mam) made with fish sauce with a balance of sweet, sour and salty flavors.

Ingredients

  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice ((approximately 1 lime, or substitute with white vinegar))
  • 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 6 tablespoons hot water
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • carrots ((optional, for color))
  • 1 fresh birds eye chili pepper ((optional, for a bit of spiciness))

Directions

  1. 1

    Peel the garlic and finely chop it. Add it to a small bowl (or jar if you are making a bigger batch)

  2. 2

    Cut the lime in half and squeeze all the lime juice into the bowl (or jar) with the garlic and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. The acid from the lime juice will cut the sharp garlic spicy bite.

  3. 3

    Once 10-15 minutes is up, add the sugar into the garlic/lime juice mix and pour in the hot water. Stir everything together until the sugar dissolves completely.

  4. 4

    Once the sugar has dissolved, add in the fish sauce and mix.

  5. 5

    Voila! Nuoc cham is done! It can be stored in the fridge or used right away! :)