Nước Chấm - The Universal Vietnamese Dipping Sauce.

Nuoc cham with tomatoes

Difficulty: Real Easy

Nuoc cham is a very versatile sauce.  Here I am sharing a robust version of this dipping sauce that I use in a lot of my dishes at home.  You can make the milder version by omitting the garlic and use half or a quarter of the chili.

1 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp of lime juice or vinegar (lime juice is better)
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
4 Tbsp Water

1-2 garlic cloves
1 Thai Chili

Pound the garlic and chili with the sugar in the pedestal and mortar.  If you don't have one, use a mini food chopper or the handle of a hammer wrapped in plastic bag or ziplock bag.  (The sugar helps prevent the peppers from come up and hitting you in the eyes when you are pounding it.) Place the contents into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients.  Stir very well.  Adjust sugar, fish sauce or lime juice to your liking.

This sauce has a ratio of 1-2-2-4 but you can adjust it to how ever you like.  Some people like it sweet, some like it salty, some like it bland.

update 8/16/2013:

I made a 1-2-3 ratio, omitting the lime juice.  It came out very good too.  It went perfect with my banh khot recipe.