Nam Jim Jaew (Thai Tamarind Dipping Sauce), No Added Refined Sugar
International dishesSauces and DipsThailand30 minutes
Nam jim jaew is a sour, spicy, salty dipping sauce scented with roasted rice powder, equally at home with grilled meat or sticky rice. Its flavor comes from three things in balance: tamarind, fish sauce and toasted dried chili. The hardest part is judging the rice powder, which swells in liquid very quickly.
Only half the rice powder goes in when the sauce is mixed, and the rest is scattered on just before eating so the aroma survives. The dried chili has to be toasted over low heat until fragrant, because scorched chili turns the whole bowl bitter.
This batch weighs about 195g, at roughly 143 calories per 100g.
Method
Strain the tamarind to get 2 tablespoons of thick paste, removing seeds and fibers if using a packaged block.
Put 162g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 4 tablespoons water in a pot and heat until fully dissolved, then cool it into a thick syrup. This sauce uses 3 tablespoons of it.
Toast glutinous rice until golden and pound it into powder, taking 1 tablespoon.
Chop or grind 1 tablespoon of dried chili and toast it over low heat until fragrant.
Finely chop 1 tablespoon shallot, 1 tablespoon spring onion and 1 to 2 sprigs of cilantro.
Put the tamarind paste, the kOBE Monk Fruit Blend syrup, 1 tablespoon salty Thai fish sauce, the shallot, the toasted chili and the herbs in a bowl, mix well, and adjust until sour and sweet are in balance.
Stir in only half the roasted rice powder now and scatter the rest on close to serving, since rice powder left sitting in liquid swells and loses its aroma.
Tips
Cooking one larger batch of the syrup and keeping it in the fridge is far easier than making it each time.
This sauce suits every kind of grilled dish, sticky rice and boiled vegetables as well.
Toast the dried chili over low heat and keep it moving, because burnt chili makes the whole bowl bitter.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so the syrup comes off the heat only once the liquid runs completely clear.
The kOBE Monk Fruit Blend syrup can set when cold, and standing the jar in warm water and stirring brings it back.
Let the mixed sauce rest for 15 minutes so the flavors come together before the final seasoning.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.