Vietnamese Fish Dipping Sauce- “Nuoc Mam Cham”, Mom’s recipe + Video

Nuoc Mam Cham, simply translated equates to fermented fish dipping sauce. This traditional fish sauce is a bright/citrusy/and semi-sweet and fishy dipping sauce is widely used in many Vietnamese dishes. This subtly fishy dipping sauce is made from a blend of fermented fish sauce, water, sugar, and citrus. Below is my mom’s special blend.

I’m not a fan of super sweet Nuoc Mam, so this is perfectly balanced for me.

INGREDIENTS

• 5 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)

• 2-5 thai chili peppers (chopped finely, 2 chili’s for mild/medium spice, 4-5 for spicy/more heat)

• Juice of 1-2 limes (I use 1/4 cup lime juice, but add more if you like a little more zing like for seafood)

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1/2 cup fish sauce (Use Redboat fish sauce or the Vietnamese 3 crab brand)

• 1.5-2 cups warm water (I usually just do 1.5 cups)

PREPARATION

1. Peel chop/mince garlic and then mince thai chili peppers (remove some of the seeds if you want to reduce the heat/hot factor).

2. Mix water, fish sauce and sugar til dissolved

3. Add lime to taste. 1/4 cup is usually the sweet spot for me but feel free to add more lime or dilute with another 1/2 cup or more of water if it’s too fishy (you want it to be a little salty/fishy though so don’t dilute this too much, it should be nice and strong).

4. Enjoy!