Prik Nam Pla

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This prik nam pla – fish sauce with chillies, is delicious with so many Thai fish recipes.

Today I decided to make the Thai fish cakes from my Thai cookbook ‘The Curry Guy Thai’. There was no way I was going to make those amazing Thai fish cakes without some prik nam pla to go with them.

Fish cakes are delicious but they need this sauce. In my book I say you can also serve them with sriracha but for me, it has to be prik nam pla!

What is prik nam pla?

“Prik Nam Pla” is a Thai condiment that consists of fish sauce (Nam Pla) mixed with chopped Thai bird’s eye chillies (Prik). It is a simple yet flavourful sauce that adds a spicy and savoury kick to various Thai dishes. The basic ingredients include fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and Thai bird’s eye chilies.

How do you make prik nam pla?

To make Prik Nam Pla, you typically mix finely chopped Thai bird’s eye chilies into a small bowl of fish sauce. In my recipe, minced garlic, lime juice, and sugar and oyster sauce are added to enhance the flavour. The resulting condiment can be used as a dipping sauce for grilled or fried foods, especially popular with seafood and meats in Thai cuisine.

All you need to do is stir the ingredients together and you have one of the best dipping sauces on the planet in less than 5 minutes.

Is Prik Nam Pla really spicy?

It’s worth noting that the spiciness of Prik Nam Pla can vary based on the number of chilies used and your own individual preferences. This condiment is often found on tables in Thai restaurants, allowing diners to customize the spiciness of their dishes according to their taste.

If you don’t like a lot of spice, use fewer chillies. If you love spicy food, use more. Simple!

Pro Tips

1. Use the freshest ingredients: Prik nam pla is a fresh tasting sauce that is sweet, savoury, spicy and a bit sour. Use the freshest ingredients you can get your hands on for best results.
2. Taste and Adjust: When preparing Thai food like this prik nam pla, it is very important that you taste as you go. Adjust the sour, spicy, savoury and sweet flavours to taste.

How do you adjust the flavours to taste?

You need to know what is going into your prik nam pla and why. Knowing which flavours each ingredients adds is an important part of adjusting the flavours to taste. Following is a breakdown of what what to look for:

1. Fish Sauce: This add a salty, savoury flavour to the sauce. If you want more salt, just add more fish sauce.
2. Sugar and Oyster sauce: Both of these add a sweet flavour to the sauce. The oyster sauce is also a bit salty. So if all you want to do it make your prik nam pla sweeter, go for the sugar.
3. Lime Juice: The lime juice gives the sauce a sour flavour. Add more if you want more.
4. The Chillies: These should be added to taste. I like the combo in the recipe card below but you could use more or less depending on your spice preference.

In addition to the above mentioned flavours, there is also garlic and coriander. Add more if you like or tone it down. If you aren’t sure, add less. You can always stir in more.

Step by step photographs.

A note about the coriander stems.

I use coriander (cilantro) stems in my Thai dishes as they are easier to come by where I live. In Thailand, the roots are used. They are washed thoroughly and then chopped up.

Both the stems and the roots will work in this recipe.

Have you tried this prik nam pla recipe?

If yes, please give it a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I love receiving feedback and I’m sure other readers of my blog do too. Thank you.