Vietnamese Chili Sauce (Dip)

2 Dried red chilies

2 Cloves garlic

1/2 ts Sugar

2 tb Fish sauce

1 tb Vinegar

1 tb Lemon juice

Mince chilies and garlic finely and place in a mortar. Mash with the heel of a cleaver or pestle. Add sugar and stir until it dissolves. Add fish sauce, vinegar and lemon juice, stirring between each addition. This makes enough for 2 to 4 people. I almost always double the recipe just to make sure there`s enough. I`ve kept it for long periods of time but unless you freeze it, it`s past it`s prime after a few days. This is a basic chili sauce used for a dip for chicken or whatever. Variations of this are found in Cambodia, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. You can fiddle with it endlessly. This is a good starting point. The proportions shown here produce what I consider a mildly warm dip. I generally use two to six times as many chilies, depending on their strength and how hot I want it. Variations: use green serrano chilies instead of dried red ones, lime juice instead of the lemon juice or palm sugar instead of granulated. If you make it in a food processor, don`t over process. It should have small chunks of each ingredient rather than being a homogeneous liquid. The taste is sour and hot, very puckery. It`s great with poached or steamed chicken, duck or game hens. Much better with basically bland dishes rather than something like curry which has it`s own blend of spices. Good with Chinese white-cut chicken or Steamed Ginger Chicken with Black Bean sauce. It`s truly addictive and I often serve it with meals that are not Oriental in origin. Should be good with a firm- fleshed white fish or boiled shrimp or crab. Fish sauce is a liquid made with anchovies and salt. It`s not really fishy tasting. Look for it in the oriental section of supermarkets or at markets catering to Asian clientele. Tiparos is a good brand made in the Philippines. I prefer Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce, but they`ll probably be harder to find. Chinese fish sauce is NOT a substitute. Posted by Stephen Ceideburg Dec 8 1989.