- 2 partsLime juice
- 1 partFish sauce
- 1 partGreen chilli + garlic
- 1 partPalm sugar
- 4-6 green bird's eye chillies, roughly chopped
- 2 long green chillies, deseeded and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 coriander roots, scraped and chopped (or 1 tbsp coriander stems)
- 1 tbsp grated palm sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) lime juice
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- Pinch of salt
- Pound the garlic, coriander root and salt in a mortar to a rough paste.
- Add the chillies and pound until bruised and broken but not completely smooth.
- Add the palm sugar and pound until it melts into the paste.
- Stir in the lime juice and fish sauce. Taste: it should be sour first, then salty, hot and only a little sweet.
- Serve within an hour, in small bowls next to grilled seafood.
Nam jim seafood (nam jim talay) is the bright green, very sour and very hot sauce served with grilled prawns, squid and fish at Thai beach shacks and seafood markets. Pounded green chilli, garlic and coriander root are loosened with lime juice and fish sauce, with a little palm sugar to hold it together.
Unlike sweet chilli sauce, it's raw and loud, not sticky. Unlike nam jim jaew, there's no toasted rice or dried chilli; this one is all fresh. Make it within an hour of eating so it stays green.
Grilled prawns, squid and whole fish, steamed mussels, oysters, crab and grilled chicken.
Spoon it over Thai steamed fish with lime, serve it with grilled sugarcane prawns or yum talay seafood salad. Read up on palm sugar and fish sauce.
Uses this sauce
Recipes that call for this sauce. Make a batch and cook one of these.
Pairs well with
Dishes this sauce suits. These recipes make their own glaze or dressing, so you can swap this sauce in.