These are the 4 most delicious dipping sauces from Vietnamese cuisine
An com is a beautiful cookbook full of Vietnamese dishes, with handy tips on products and preparation methods. Phi-Yen and her parents’ recipes show you how to make street food classics and Vietnamese dishes at home. From the most delicious spring rolls, spring rolls, sweet-and-sour fish soup and crispy pancakes; these Vietnamese dipping sauces go with everything.
Mắm nêm | Fermented anchovy dip with pineapple
Mắm nem is a fish sauce dip made from fermented anchovies and fresh, ripe pineapple. Do you really want to get to know Vietnamese cuisine? Then this sauce is definitely worth trying. It’s incredibly tasty for dipping your fresh spring roll into, but it also goes well with fresh, cooked seafood.
Makes approx. 350 ml
250 grams pineapple, peeled and cleaned
2 garlic cloves
80 ml fermented fish paste
25 grams granulated sugar
25 ml white wine vinegar
1 tsp. MSG
1 red chili pepper, finely chopped
2 bird’s eye chilies, finely chopped
Coarsely blend the pineapple and garlic with a blender or immersion blender. Add the fermented fish paste, sugar, vinegar, MSG and chilies to the pineapple purée. Stir until everything is well mixed. Serve immediately.
Tương ngọt | Hoisin-peanut dipping sauce
Alongside nước mắm tỏi ớt (sweet-and-sour fish sauce dressing), this thick, nutty sauce is a popular dipping sauce for fresh spring rolls.
Makes approx. 220 ml
1 tbsp. neutral oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 tbsp. hoisin sauce
2 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
pinch of MSG (optional)
1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil also needed: sterilized jar or container with a capacity of approx. 220 ml
Heat the neutral oil in a saucepan over medium heat and fry the garlic until fragrant. Remove the garlic from the pan with a slotted spoon. Set the garlic aside; it will not be used again in this dish. Turn off the heat. Add the hoisin sauce, peanut butter, 50 milliliters of water and MSG to the pan with the garlic oil and heat over low heat. Mix well. Remove the pan from the heat after 1 minute. Stir the toasted sesame oil into the sauce and leave to cool. Store the sauce for up to 1 week in a sterilized jar or container in the refrigerator.
Nước mắm tỏi ớt | Sweet-and-sour fish sauce dressing
My all-time favorite is nước chấm tỏi ớt: a super-simple fish sauce that is sweet, sour and spicy at the same time. Sweet-and-sour fish sauce is one of the most widely used dipping sauces in Vietnamese cuisine, so you’ll often see it appear. The perfect balance of flavors is different for everyone, so feel free to adjust the proportions. To make the sauce vegetarian, use light soy sauce instead of fish sauce, or choose vegetarian fish sauce.
makes approx. 360 ml
60 grams granulated sugar
30 ml (vegetarian) fish sauce or light soy sauce
40 ml white wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red chili pepper, finely chopped
Also needed: sterilized jar with lid, with a capacity of approx. 200 ml
In a bowl, mix the sugar with 60 milliliters of hot water and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add the fish sauce or light soy sauce and white wine vinegar, stir well and taste whether you need a little more fish sauce (salty), sugar (sweet) or vinegar (sour) to achieve the right sweet-and-sour balance.
Add the garlic and red chili pepper to the sauce. Taste again and adjust the fish sauce to your liking if necessary. You can prepare this sauce in advance and store it in a sterilized jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Nước tương chấm | Vegetarian Maggi dipping sauce
At home, we love Maggi, but its salt content makes it too intense as a dipping sauce. That’s why my mother came up with a vegetarian dipping sauce as an alternative to traditional fish sauce. This dip is perfect for a noodle salad or for dipping your fresh spring rolls into.
makes approx. 150 ml
50 grams granulated sugar
50 ml Maggi
50 ml white wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red chili pepper, finely chopped
Also needed: sterilized jar with lid, with a capacity of approx. 150 ml
Heat the granulated sugar with 50 milliliters of water in a pan until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and leave the liquid to cool. Add the Maggi and white wine vinegar. Taste whether the balance between sweet, sour and salty is right. If not, add sugar, Maggi or white wine vinegar. Mix the dipping sauce with the finely chopped garlic and pepper.
You can prepare this sauce in advance and store it in a sterilized jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Title: An com
Author: Phi-Yen Phan
Price: €29.99
Publisher: Nijgh & van Ditmar
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