To take away fish sauce (Nước Mắm ) from the Vietnamese is like draining blood from a living soul, deflating a floating helium balloon or driving a nail into a tire. Slowly but surely, all life would slowly cease. Extreme as this may sound, this is how vital this golden elixir reigns in Viet cuisine ( well, at least in my family’s Viet cooking). Like how olive oil is to the Italians, Red wine is to the French, and ketchup is to my french fries, fish sauce is to the Vietnamese. It’s a pure, pungent nectar sent from the fermented fish gods to grace our breaths and Viet inspired dishes.
One of the very basic staples of fish sauce is the dipping sauce that can be used as a dip for spring rolls, as a dressing for noodles and rice or as a marinade for grilled meat. It’s like magic when you take fish sauce, mix it with a little lime, garlic and chili. Fish sauce in it’s pure form them becomes a little softer, subdued and more manageable on the palette. It then becomes the dip what Vietnamese call, Nước chấm or simply, Nước Mắm (depending on tradition).
Varying in so many degrees of sweet-ness, spicy-ness, garlicky-ness and lime-ness (sp?), each household will make claim to having “mom’s best” version. My mother believes that her garlic infused version reigns supreme ( with much support from her nail shop staff), but I feel that my variation is better just because it requires much less post breath mints.
Regardless of ego or family tradition, here are the basic principles of the fish dip sauce. Some traditions use one or all of the following ingredients. You decide how much more you want to explore.
-D.
Print This RecipeBasic Vietnamese Fish Dipping Sauce (Nuoc cham)
Ingredients
1-2 crushed Garlic cloves (or finely minced), but crushed garlic really brings out oils, thus the flavor
1 crushed or minced Thai Chili (customize your spice level)
1/2 squeezed Lime (or about 1 heaping Tablespoon)
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Rice Vinegar (optional)
1/2 cup Fish Sauce (add more for extra fish sauce depth)
1/2 cup Water
1. Mix all ingredients together well.
Note: As mentioned, these are just the basics, so RELAX !!! If your family uses more sugar, no vinegar or less lime then more power to you! These are just the basics to share with those who do want to make it for the first time. After that, experiment with the individual ingredients to create your own “personal” and “special” nuoc cham sauce.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
JACKPOT!!! Yay! I have been looking for a recipe for this… thank you thank you thank you!
Thanks for the recipe! I just started a food blog (yet another) and my first post and linked this to my com tam suon bi cha post.
Where is the recipe? I can’t find it and I would love to get it!
Thanks!
Jen
Recipe is up now. It did lay on our recipes archive, but that had to be moved. We put it up on the post now. Thanks for the interest! -WORC
My dad did a couple of tours in Vietnam and whenever we can get him to talk about it there, he always brings up his love of “nouc cham”
His birthday is coming up soon and i would love to order him some! Where can i find it???
well.do youlive near any big city,search for a asian market i think you could find some.Uasually they only sell the pure fish sauce,you will have to do the lime ,garlic ,pepper and sugar yourself. you should choose the Thai pepper or goat horn pepper(red one) if you could .when i do the Nuoc Cham to eat with spring roll,i would use a lot of sugar and very little water,to make the sauce become thick.And when i make Nuoc Cham to eat with egg rolls and vermicili i would use quite alot of sugar and water.this is the soulthern style to make Nuoc Cham,we add more sugar than any other area.
I actually have quite a strange question for you regarding Vietnamese food: I’d ask my mom, but I am afraid my Vietnamese isn’t good enough to describe what I am thinking of. Hopefully, you know what I am talking about.
I am thinking of a “banh” that is made of flour, looks sort of greenish, and is steamed covered in banana leaves. Inside, there is minced meat and some sort of mushroom, also minced. The flour in itself is pretty sticky. I cannot seem to remember its name, but remember Little Saigon as a kid, and that my parents would get it for me now and then. Oh, and it was sort of chewy, because of the flour.
Can you help a guy out? I am going nuts thinking of its name.
Marc
Marc- It’s called banh gio.
i think i could be banh gio or banh u
Hi,
Just wanna point out to Marc about his post.
It depends on the shape of the “ba’nh”.
Banh gio` is more like what you described. It should have a pyramid-like shape.
It has minced mead, black wood ear mushroom. It dough is somewhat transparent. Wrapped in banana leaf.
Banh Nam – is also in banana leaf but it shape is almost flat with a little meat in middle. Its dough is not clear but whitish.
Banh bot loc – has clear dough and a bit chewy. It has shrimp and minced meat. This one is steamed.
I hope that helps.
Diane,
I am a new fan of your blog. Wonderful blog. Thank you.
hey marc im not exactly sure what your talking about. But my mom makes banh loc and it is made up of chopped up meat, shrimp, celantro, black pepper and is first sauted in a pan with oyster sauce and alittle bit of water. she makes the dough and then wraps the mix into that dough where it kinda looks like a fan shape. but there are many ways poeple wrap up the mix. then the banana leaves . and u can dip it with nuoc mam. i hope this helpz
This has to be misprint because the amount of fish sauce should NEVER be equal to the amount of water used. It should be about 1 part fish sauce to about 4 parts water (or something like that). I had to really doctor this recipe to get my fish sauce to taste right. It is WAY too salty as written. When done, the color of the sauce should be like a light honey, not dark honey or molasses.
Hang- as I mentioned in the recipe, there is no right or wrong way to do it. Some like it watered down and some will eat it straight out of the bottle.
As with any recipe, they vary from region to region, family to family. And of course, there are different brands with different levels of saltyness. Everyone has a different tolerance, as well as a different way that they make it.
So NO, this is not a misprint. Some of my family and friends like it with this ratio. Others prefer more fish sauce. There is no such thing as WAY TOO SALTY, because it’s all a personal preference.
I’ve traveled all throughout VietNam with family living in all different regions. I’ve very OPEN-MINDED to understand that every region and family tradition has their own FISH SAUCE RECIPE.
I NEVER say NEVER. There is no RIGHT or WRONG way to make fish sauce. As I learned from my Grandmother (still living in VietNam), food is enjoyed most when it suits your taste bud, tolerance and tradition.
Just talking to all the women in my families nail shops, you’d be surprised at how much every person’s fish sauce recipe varies. And that’s proof coming from Vietnamese women from all regions and generations.
Cam On Rat Nhieu,
diane
Hmmmm….I see what you’re saying. However, it’s my experience (limited as they be), that the dipping sauce typically seen served with egg rolls or bun is typically not of the variety you submitted. I assume since you’re writing this blog in English, it was meant to be directed towards a certain type of palate. And I may be wrong, but most of those palates are used to a sweeter and lighter fish sauce….the kind that was brought over by the Vietnamese whom came over en masse back in the 70s and 80s. I was born in Laos of Vietnamese descent, but the dipping sauce my mother served at home was similar to thse served in most restaurants I’ve tasted in Wichita, KS, and Dallas, TX (where I currently reside). Now, with that said, there are many different varieties of fish dipping sauces, but I assume you were putting out one that is of a general use and sought by most Americans. I apologize in advance if I am totally off base. Really enjoy the pictures on your blog!
Hi Hang- thanks for the discussion! this is great.
The sauces that maybe come out of Wichita, KS and Dallas, can certainly be different from what is served here on the West Coast. But again, it all varies depending on the cook.
I can pick out huge differences in flavors and ratio’s of fish sauce preparations from restaurants within 2 miles of each other. There are restaurants here in Little Saigon Westminister that will serve straight up fish sauce with thin slices of chilies in it, with no water added.
It’s very difficult for me to make a generalization that my recipes are for a certain type of palate. i write my recipes from family experiences, these are dishes that I ate in my family. They are not representative of what is definitive of Vietnamese cuisine, nor are they in any way out to explain the regional preferences of Vietnamese Americans. These are just how my family ate and they are certainly different from every single one of my Vietnamese friends and neighbors.
I was part of that wave that came to the US in the 70’s, but that wouldn’t necessarily be vindictive of any particular style of fish sauce. Rather, the Southern Vietnamese palate is typically sweeter, thus producing an often sweeter based fish sauce dip. Many of my Southern Vietnamese friends and colleagues like their food on the sweeter side. My cousins in Saigon definitely like their food, sauces and broths slightly sweeter.
My part of the family that comes from Northern Vietnam definitely like their food less sweet. They have opened restaurants and their food is also very representative of their style of regional cooking.
I don’t think you have limited English at all. I commend you on your excellent writing and communicative skills. If it makes you feel any better, I’m more than happy to discuss all this in Vietnamese with you. I’m fluent in Vietnamese. We can chat on the phone!
Again, thank you for this discussion.
-diane
After I sent the response last night, I did think there was a more regional difference between North and South Vietnamese cuisine. Although my family hailed from Laos, we are of Northern Vietnamese origins but somehow became more Southern in our cuisine (probably living in Laos with it’s Thai influence). If I recall correctly, my sister-in-law is from Hyphong and tends toward more salty and tart foods. She had to acquire the taste for the sweeter stuff when she came over 8 years ago – which has definitely been detrimental to her waistline! ;o) Since I was googling for a fish dipping sauce for my egg rolls, I just ignorantly assumed it was the same type of sweet fish sauce recipe given out at other sites. I would also assume others googling may think the same, so maybe an end note to explain the difference between the fish sauces would help, as I was disappointed to find out my dipping sauce was much saltier than what is “typically” served. I quoted that as I am sure your experience and knowledge is much more vast than mine, but mine is probably more “westernized” (I did grow up in Wichita, KS!!). Luckily I knew how to fix the recipe to my liking, but others whom stumble upon your site may not and will end up with a lot of fish sauce that tastes nothing like they tasted in the restaurants. And I believe – although I have no evidence – those whom come to your site are of a Westernized diet searching for a general fish sauce that was popularized by the Southern Vietnamese. I’d hate to see them toss out the fish sauce because their expectations were not met. But again, maybe I am still assuming too much about the audience you are writing for without any proof what I say is correct.
Regardless, thanks for the discussion and I wish you a “chuc mung nam moi” in the year of the Tiger and a Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hang
P.S. I bow to your fluency in Vietnamese as I lack the ability to truly communicate in my own language. Then again, I was born in Laos and grew up in Wichita. That should explain everything! LOL!
Wow, lots of debate here! It’s true, there’s no true exact measurements for how to make nuoc mam cham (like many other dishes in general). From what I know from Vietnamese cuisine, your recipe includes everything that is needed.
I, myself, don’t truly measure anything (just eyeball) but I do probably add 2 or 3x the amount of water to fish sauce (when I make like a bucket’s worth to last me a while, lol). I like to taste as I go, when whippin’ up nuoc cham. Also I like to use all limes instead of vinegar but my mom prefers vinegar.
I do notice lots of differences when I buy Viet food with the nuoc cham or at Viet restaurants. Food to go, for example, like to serve mild and sweet NMC with just a little chili or none at all! Oh and also, I think that’s true that in So. Vietnam, NMC is sweeter. My family’s from central VN (Hue) and boy oh boy, they like it extremely spicy!!
Oh, I really just love fish sauce — I think I add it in 80% of what I cook, even non Asian foods, lol (that plus soy sauce). UMAMI. yum.
Thanks for posting a great recipe!
Hang- I don’t think I need to have an end note as to why my ratio is more strong than others. Like I said, there is no collective “restaurant” version of fish sauce.
I’ve been to many Vietnamese restaurants that have very strong fish sauce. As mentioned in my recipe, this is my Mom’s family recipe, not a restaurant recipe.
I’ve had great response to my recipe from both “westernized” and “ethnic” Vietnamese. But as with any recipe, everyone adapts it to their own taste.
Honestly, I think you’re thinking about his too much girlfriend! Just dip and eat!
Who cares if I like my fish sauce saltier and stronger? I know of many folks who eat my recipe (both viet and american) and love the results. When they go eat more watered down versions, they don’t like it.
Also, have you looked at any Vietnamese cookbooks for written in both Vietnamese and English? you’d be surprised at how much more concentrated and salty these recipes are.
You are Laos and grew up in Wichita, so those influence alone show how different our “Vietnamese” food influences are.
Happy New Year!
xo
diane