Nam Prik Kapi (Thai Shrimp Paste Chile Sauce)

Nam prik kapi is a spicy shrimp paste dip that may seem a little off putting to westerners with its strong fishy smell, but is well worth trying if you are feeling adventurous as it is packed with strong flavour. It is often served with omelette, steamed or raw veg, sticky or steamed rice, mackerel, or anything you want! It is a very rich and fishy sauce, so is a great way to add strong flavours to foods that may otherwise seem a little bland.

With your trusty mortar and pestle, and a handful of common Thai cooking ingredients, this is a dip/sauce/relish/dish (can be described as either, or all of those things!) that is fast and easy to prepare. In this video we have used nam prik kapi as a vegetable dip, but as I mentioned earlier it works well combined with a variety of other ingredients. If you want to try it as a meal, serve with mackerel and rice and enjoy those flavours!

Ingredients 2 tablespoons shrimp paste 4 cloves garlic 5-6 dried shrimp 5-7 fresh Thai chile peppers 3 tablespoons lime juice 3 tablespoons fish sauce 2-3 tablespoons palm sugar 1 tablespoon tiny Thai eggplant Method In a mortar and pestle, pound dried shrimp into a coarse powder, remove from mortar and set aside. Place shrimp paste and garlic in mortar, mash and grind together then add the dried shrimp back into the mortar. Add Thai chile peppers and eggplant (leaving a few eggplant aside for later). Pound the mixture together, adding palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce to suit your taste. Spoon it into a dish and add a few eggplants for visual appeal, it should look like this. This can be served in a wide variety of ways. Spoon over fresh steamed jasmine rice, or use as a dipping sauce for fresh or boiled vegetables such as cucumber, string bean, cabbage or bamboo shoot. It's also a wonderful accompaniment to Lao style vegetable curry. In Thailand this is very popular to eat with fried mackerel fish (pla tu).

#rice #thaifood #fish #vegetables #spicy