Seafood Dipping Sauce | Nam Jim Seafood | น้ำจิ้มซีฟู๊ด

Move over, cocktail sauce and lemon butter dip! This Thai seafood sauce known as Nam Jim Seafood deserves a spot at the table too. Made with Thai chilis, lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, and cilantro, Nam Jim Seafood is a bold and flavorful accompaniment to seafood of all kinds!

When you are served seafood in Thailand, you can be sure that it will be accompanied by a bowl of the Thai seafood dipping sauce known as Nam Jim Seafood. This sauce is vibrantly bold and unapologetically spicy and sour. As it's name suggests, it's served with all manner of seafood, from steamed crab to grilled fish, adding a burst of bright flavor to each bite. Fortunately, this Thai dipping sauce is also super easy to make, so you can quickly whip up a batch to go with your next seafood dinner!

Nam Jim Seafood

Nam Jim Seafood is one of several "nam jims" or dipping sauces in Thai cuisine. Each dipping sauce has a specific food that it's usually eaten with. For example, Nam Jim Sate is eaten with satay skewers. Nam Jim Jaew is eaten mainly with grilled meats and sticky rice. Nam Jim Gai is primarily eaten with chicken and fried foods like Fried Chicken and Shrimp in a Blanket. And, as the name suggests, Nam Jim Seafood is usually eaten with seafood.

This Thai seafood sauce is made from Thai chilis, garlic, cilantro, lime, fish sauce, and palm sugar. It's bold, spicy, and sour and adds boatloads of flavor to the seafood dishes it's served with. Grilled shrimp, steamed crab, whole fried fish, grilled calamari... all sorts of seafood benefit from the potent flavors of this sauce.

Ingredients

• Garlic: Several cloves of garlic are peeled and pounded into the dipping sauce to provide their slightly spicy aromatic flavor.
• Cilantro (Roots and Leaves): The roots of cilantro are traditionally pounded into this sauce to provide their characteristic earthy flavor. Cilantro roots can often be found at farmer's markets or groceries that cater to the Southeast Asian population. If they aren't available to you, you can substitute cilantro stems. The leaves of cilantro are added to the sauce right before serving.
• Thai Chilis: Green Thai chilis are most often used to make this dipping sauce for a nicely uniform green color. Red chilis could be used as well, if you prefer the sauce to be red. You can use as many or as few chilis as you like, although the sauce is traditionally made to be fairly spicy.
• Fish Sauce: Fish sauce provides the salty umami that ties the spicy and sour flavors together. A good quality Thai fish sauce is best.
• Lime Juice: Freshly squeezed lime juice provides the bright tartness that balances the spiciness of this dipping sauce.
• Palm Sugar: Palm sugar helps to balance out the otherwise very bold spicy, sour, and salty flavors. The sauce will not end up tasting sweet, it just helps to round out the other very potent flavors.

Instructions:

Nam Jim Seafood is incredibly easy to make. If you are making a few servings, it's easiest to pound the ingredients together in a mortar and pestle. If you are making a larger batch, blending them together in a food processor might work better. In either case, you'll want to follow these steps:

1. Prepare your cilantro roots by washing them, then scraping the outer skin and rootlets away from the main root. Then peel and slice the garlic into smaller pieces. Pound or blend the garlic and cilantro roots together into a smooth paste.
2. Next slice the Thai chilis into smaller pieces and pound or blend until they are incorporated into the paste. If you're unsure of how spicy you want the sauce to be, start with two chilis, then add more as needed.
3. Finally, add the fish sauce, lime juice, and palm sugar to the mixture. Pound or blend until the palm sugar is dissolved and a homogeneous sauce has been formed. Taste and adjust the seasonings according to your personal preferences.
4. Before serving, top with fresh cilantro leaves. Enjoy with your next seafood dish!

Serving Suggestions

This seafood dipping sauce goes well with just about any seafood dish. It's served with grilled shrimp, steamed crab, steamed mussels, grilled calamari, and whole grilled fish to name a few. It can also be served with wraps or appetizers that feature seafood, such as Miang Pla Tod.

Storage

Nam Jim Seafood is best when made and eaten fresh, as the flavors are most vibrant then. However, it can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for a few days if you like. Just be sure to leave the cilantro leaves out, and add them right before serving. Otherwise, they will wilt and turn brown in the stored sauce.

If you're eating seafood in Thailand, this Thai seafood dipping sauce known as Nam Jim Seafood is a must. It is unapologetically bold, and will make each bite of your seafood meal burst with flavor. Give it a try with your next seafood dinner!