If there’s one dish I absolutely miss about Thailand, it’s Nam Jim Jaew (แจ่ว) – or more like how accessible it is! Nam Jim Jaew is a Thai dipping sauce, that is the most perfect blend of spicy, tangy, sour and salty. It originates from the Northern region of Thailand, and is part of Isaan cuisine.

In Singapore, we’re blessed to have good Thai food at our disposal, yet for some reason, I can never seem to find a place that would serve Nam Jim Jaew! The Thai food in Singapore is more of the central Thailand variety, so these would be your tom yams, green curries and basil stir fries. Isaan cuisine unfortunately is not too common here.

My favourite ways of using it is to dip grilled chicken and steak. I’ve also love going traditional and dipping some glutinous sticky rice in it for an immediate flavour bomb.

I set out to make my own Nam Jim Jaew, and I was so surprised to learn it’s not that hard to make at all. The ingredients are all not hard to find! This recipe is a good base to start off, but feel free to adjust according to your preference.

Nam Jim Jaew is wonderfully complex. The base makeup of Nam Jim Jaew is the sugar, fish sauce and the tamarind – for the trifecta of sweet, salty and sour. Of course, it’s not a spicy dipping sauce without a good helping of Thai chilli flakes. The addition of lime juice brightens up the sauce, while cilantro gives it freshness. Finally, we have Khao Kua, or Toasted Rice Powder. This gives the Nam Jim Jaew that grainy texture and delicious nutty flavour.

How to make Toasted Rice Powder or Khao Kua

Khao Kua is typically made with glutinous rice, but you can also just use regular regular jasmine rice. I don’t wash my rice – the heat from toasting is suppose to kill of germs – but you can if you want. Make sure the rice is dried fully before toasting.

To make Khao Kua, add the glutinous rice to a pan, and toast over very low heat. It should take a while. Continuously swivel the pan to get an even toast, and so you don’t burn the rice. Don’t burn the rice!

It’s better to be underdone than burnt. It’s done once it turns a nice, brown colour, and it smells nutty and toasty, which has been described as popcorn. Not all the rice will be brown, you can have a mixture of white and brown rice. This is fine.

Grind to a powder with a pestle and mortar, or be like me and just use a spice mill or grinder. For the purposes of this recipe, I toasted 1 tablespoon of rice and I had leftover. You can make a big batch and keep in the pantry for future use.

Tamarind

The tamarind is what really gives it that mellow sourness. I used Tamarind Paste, which is concentrated tamarind pulp. This is the exact brand I use, but they should all have similar concentrations.

If you are using tamarind pulp, use 1 tablespoon of tamarind pulp, to 1 teaspoon of tamarind paste. With tamarind pulp, add 3-4 tablespoons of warm water, and work the pulp so that you have tamarind juice. Discard the seeds.