Southeast Asian recipe for Vietnamese fish sauce is often made from anchovies, salt, and water, and is intensely flavored. Anchovies and salt are arranged in wooden barrels to ferment and also are slowly pressed, yielding the salty, fishy liquid. The salt extracts the liquid via osmosis.
The Vietnamese dipping sauce is an important step to making your cuisine just right. Since it’s just about everywhere in Vietnamese cooking, it’s simply referred to as “dipping sauce”.
There are many types of sauces Vietnamese people use for different foods, but this is the main sauce, primarily seasoned with fish sauce. You’ll usually find a bowl of this sauce next to many Vietnamese foods.
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Recipe For Vietnamese Fish Sauce
This a simple yet delicious recipe for Vietnamese dipping sauce. Make sure to taste as you go and adapt to your liking.
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1.5 tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
Optional Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 bird’s eye / Thai chili finely sliced
Ingredient Notes
Water – Keep in mind that about half the volume of this sauce is water. So if you’re trying to conserve ingredients, or just not make so much that wouldn’t get used, know that the volume of water you start with, will be half of what you end up with in the final sauce.
Citrus – Start by mixing the water with sugar and also lime or lemon. This is lemonade. If it’s too sweet, add some water. If it’s not sour enough add some more citrus. The flavor and acidity of lemon or limes can vary from fruit to fruit, so use your taste buds.
Following this recipe exactly each time can produce different results since limes or lemons can vary in liquid, pulp, acidity, etc.
But don’t even think about using bottled juice. That stuff tastes slightly muted and misses that amazing fresh citrus oil scent that doesn’t stick around too long.
Fish sauce – Slowly add the fish sauce in increments until you gradually reach what the recipe calls for, all the while mixing the sauce and tasting it along the way.
Optional Additions
Add chopped chilies or finely chopped garlic to the sauce if you like. Chiles are a must for me, and also garlic is nice too. Finely chopping garlic is a very time-consuming task if you’re doing it manually.
After you get used to making this, you can start to tell by the color of the sauce when you are getting close.
Sugar – If you’re trying to dissolve sugar in cold water and also it’s too cold it takes a lot longer to fully dissolve, and also you can’t adjust ingredients as you go as accurately. Either use a small amount of hot or warm water enough to dissolve the sugar, then fill in the rest with cold or filtered tap water.
Or if you want to get fancy, make a simple syrup by heating equal parts sugar and water in a pot over medium heat until fully dissolved. If you use 1 cup of sugar, and also 1 cup of water, you’ll end up with about 1.5 cups of simple syrup. You can save the rest for making cocktails!
How to Make Recipe For Vietnamese Fish Sauce
- Combine water and sugar in a bowl. Optional: heat 1/3 of the water, then mix in to make dissolving the sugar easier, then add the rest of the water
- Add lime or lemon juice in increments until you like how it tastes. A good guide is it should taste like lemonade/limeade
- Add fish sauce in small increments until you like how it tastes. It should be a little strong since it will be paired with unseasoned food
- Top with garlic and chilies then serve
What is in Vietnamese Fish Sauce?
Vietnamese fish sauce in its unadulterated form is made from anchovies, sea salt, and also water. This is what you’ll typically find in bottles of fish sauce sold at supermarkets.
At Vietnamese restaurants, they also offer a dipping sauce made from fish sauce, water, sugar, citrus, and other optional ingredients like garlic or Thai chiles (like the recipe in this post!). This will be served in a small bowl on the side. If you see a bottle of this stuff on the side of your table, it is most likely the pure fish sauce they portioned out from a larger bottle.
The Vietnamese dipping sauce is made from a blend of fish sauce, water, sugar, and also citrus (again, the same one you see in the recipe on this post!). You have the option of adding garlic or Thai chiles depending on your flavor preference. You can find this dipping sauce with dishes like a spring rolls, Egg rolls, and Sushi Roll.
6 Fish Sauce Substitutes
Fish sauce is a staple in Southeast Asian cuisine and an important ingredient in a lot of Thai. Vietnamese, and Cambodian dishes. It provides an umami flavor that makes food taste savory and complex. It combines sweet, salty, fishy, and other flavors.
There are various reasons an individual may need to find an alternative to fish sauce.
Soy Sauce
Anyone who wants to make a fish sauce substitute can mix soy sauce with vinegar or minced anchovies to achieve a taste similar to that of fish sauce.
People can also make a broth using soy sauce, either on its own or by adding mushrooms.
There are many types of soy sauce, such as dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, tamari, Shiro, and Saishikomi.
Dark soy sauce is older, thicker, and sweeter, and it is the best addition when cooking. Light soy sauce is younger, thinner, and saltier and works best as a dipping sauce. Soy sauce can also come in a reduced-sodium form. Soy sauce may provide some digestive benefits, primarily due to the oligosaccharides created during the fermentation process.
Using soy sauce as a substitute for fish sauce is a good option for vegetarians and vegans so long as they refrain from mixing it with anchovies.
Vegan Fish sauce
It is important to note that while this option is great for vegetarians and vegans and is low in calories, it also has the highest sodium content. Vegan fish sauce is potentially a good choice for individuals who want to avoid extra fat in their diet, as it does not contain any fat.
FAQs
Southeast Asian fish sauce is often made from anchovies, salt, and water, and is intensely flavored. Anchovies and salt are arranged in wooden barrels to ferment and are slowly pressed, yielding the salty, fishy liquid. The salt extracts the liquid via osmosis.
The basic ingredients of a good fish sauce are fish, water, and salt. Sometimes sugars such as caramel or molasses are added, or roasted rice, but it isn’t necessary. Fish sauce is referred to as nam pla in Thailand, teuk Trei in Cambodia, nam pa in Laos, patis in the Philippines, and Burma.
Vietnamese fish sauce is a fantastic meat marinade and could even be used as a tangy dressing for salad or steamed vegetables. Description: Savory, umami-flavored Vietnamese dipping sauce for egg rolls, spring rolls, and other Vietnamese foods.
What is the difference between Thai and Vietnamese fish sauce?
Thai fish sauce is known to be saltier and has a more pungent flavor than Vietnamese sauces, which are lighter in taste. People say the best Vietnamese fish sauce is made from fish that are sourced from Phu Quoc, an island off the southwest coast of Vietnam.
“Most Vietnamese dishes require fish sauce, as fish sauce is used as a salt substitute,” Tiffany Pham, a representative for the Red Boat Fish Sauce company, says via email. Phở, thịt kho, and cơm tấm are just some of the traditional Vietnamese meals that use fish sauce as a key ingredient.
Conclusion
Southeast Asian recipe for Vietnamese fish sauce is often made from anchovies, salt, and water, and is intensely flavored. Anchovies and salt are arranged in wooden barrels to ferment and also are slowly pressed, yielding the salty, fishy liquid. The salt extracts the liquid via osmosis.
Vietnamese fish sauce is made from fish that are sourced from Phu Quoc, an island off the southwest coast of Vietnam. This a simple yet delicious recipe for Vietnamese dipping sauce. Make sure to taste as you go and adapt to your liking. There are many types of sauces Vietnamese people use for different foods, but this is the main sauce, primarily seasoned with fish sauce.
The basic ingredients of a good fish sauce are fish, water, and salt. Sometimes sugars such as caramel or molasses are added, or roasted rice, but it isn’t necessary. Fish sauce is referred to as nam pla in Thailand, teuk Trei in Cambodia, nam pa in Laos, patis in the Philippines, and in Burma.
Apart from telling you all about the recipe for Vietnamese fish sauce, I have also given you various recipes you can try at home whenever you like.
- Do You Know How to Make a Vietnamese Avocado Smoothie
- Peanut Roll: The Ultimate Sweet and Savory Treat
- Pickled Carrots And Daikon
- The Best Fish Sauce Recipes
- Amazing Benefits of Thai Green Tea