Nam Jim Jaew Sauce

What is nam jim jaew?

Nam jim jaew is a Thai dipping sauce that originates from northeastern Thailand. It’s a tangy, savoury, and slightly sweet sauce with a smoky touch from toasted rice powder.

It has a delicious flavour which is a balance of salty (fish sauce), sour (lime and tamarind), sweet (palm or white sugar) and spicy (chilli flakes).

Nam jim jaew is traditionally paired with grilled meats such as gai yang, Thai pork skewers and weeping tiger steak. The sauce has a thick, grainy texture from the toasted rice powder (Khao Khua) which is popular in many Thai dishes.

What is khao Khua?

This is a toasted glutinous rice (sticky rice) powder. You can make it by first grinding sticky rice to a fine powder and then toasting it in a pan over a medium heat until golden brown and fragrant.

You can also simply toast the rice whole and then grind it. Khao khua adds a delicious smoky flavour to the nam jim jaew.

It is easy to prepare and you can also purchase it at many Asian grocers and online.

Ingredients

Get all your ingredients prepared before starting. It's easier that way.

• Thai fish sauce
• Tamarind water
• palm sugar or white sugar
• dried chilli flakes
• roasted rice powder (Khao Khua)
• lime juice
• shallots
• coriander stems
• spring onions

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Here you have it... step by step instructions on how to make jim jam jaew. It's really easy and you will love it with any Thai grilled meats.

1. Step 1: Grind some glutinous rice and place it in a pan over a medium heat. You can make as little or as much as you like. This recipe only calls for a tablespoon.

2. Step 2: Toast the ground rice until it turns a nice golden brown. You can store any rice powder you don't use in an air-tight container for about 6 months.

Variations

Giving the visitor ideas on how they can change this recipe to better suit their dinner guests, or their cultural cuisine, is a great way to increase the chances they make the recipe

• Spicy - If you prefer your jim jam jaew to be spicy, just add more chilli flakes to the recipe.
• Aromatics - The aromatics can also be very finely chopped. I like mine a bit chunky.
• Flavour Adjustments - Jim jam jaew is the perfect mix of sweet, sour, spicy and savoury. You get the savoury flavour from the fish sauce. The sweet flavour comes from the sugar. You get a nice spicy kick from the chilli flakes and it is all rounded off with sourness from the lime juice and tamarind. You can and should adjust the flavours to taste.

Equipment

Mixing bowl: A small mixing bowl will come in handy. If you like, you could serve your nam jim jaew in the same bowl.

A frying pan: If you are making your own toasted rice, you will need a good pan to do it in. You can also purchase Thai toasted rice powder

Storage

You can store your nam jim jaew, covered in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Give it another good stir before serving.

If you want to freeze it for later, you can do that too. You will lose some of the crunchness of the aromatics so I don't recommend freezing unless you absolutely have to.