RecipeReferences
Laab Ped
Isaan duck laab
The science note on khao khua as an adsorbent is on Laab Ped.
Nam Jim Jaew
Recipes · Nam Jim Jaew
First revision · 23 SEP 2026
PreparationFirst revisionVia mcp
Nam Jim Jaew
Isaan dipping sauce of toasted dried chilli, toasted sticky rice, fish sauce and lime
A dipping sauce for grilled meat. It is a wet relish, not a pourable sauce. You drag the meat through it. Two chillies do two jobs. Toasted dried chilli gives roasted depth. Sliced fresh bird's eye chilli gives a sharp, immediate heat on top. Toasted glutinous rice, pounded coarse, takes up the free liquid and holds it against the meat. Fish sauce gives the salt. Lime gives the acid. A small amount of palm sugar rounds the edges. This is the doubled batch. The first batch was half this size and ran out on one bird.
Batch
Makes 1 bowl for one birdWhy the first revision
First version in the store. Records the doubled batch that the cook settled on for one bird. Palm sugar now dissolves in the fish sauce before the lime goes in, because palm sugar dissolves poorly once acid is present.
Tap a step to cross it out0 / 12 done
Khao khua
3 steps-
Put the glutinous rice in a dry pan on medium heat. Shake the pan all the time.
Work Dry-toasting -
Toast the rice until it is deep gold and smells nutty.
Time 5 minWork Dry-toasting -
Pound the rice in the mortar to a coarse powder. Do not make it fine.
Work GrindingTool mortar and pestle
Chilli
3 steps-
Put the dried chillies in the same dry pan on medium heat. Press and turn them.
Work Dry-toasting -
Stop when they are dark red and smell roasted. Do not let them go black.
The walls are thin. A few seconds separate roasted from bitter.
Time 3 min -
Pound the chillies coarse. Keep flakes and pieces. Do not make a powder.
Work GrindingTool mortar and pestle
Dressing
5 steps-
Stir the palm sugar into the fish sauce until it dissolves.
Palm sugar dissolves poorly once acid is present. Dissolve it before the lime goes in.
-
Add the lime juice. Stir.
-
Add the chilli, the rice powder, the shallot, the fresh chilli and the spring onion. Stir.
-
Leave the sauce for 5 minutes. Then taste it.
The sauce loosens while it sits. Do not correct it before the 5 minutes are over.
Time 5 min -
Correct it with lime juice for sour or fish sauce for salt. Aim for salty, sour, hot and nutty.
To finish
1 step-
Stir in the coriander leaf just before you serve.
Notes
11
CAUTION · SUBSTITUTION White sugar in place of palm sugar
The cook used white sugar when palm sugar was not available. It worked.
White sugar gives only sweetness. Palm sugar also carries caramel notes from the boil. In a sauce this sour and salty, the difference is small.
There is no cooking step here, so the sugar only balances sour and salt.
Provenance
Made first as the sauce for gai yang in a Berlin kitchen. Doubled after the first cook because there was not enough.
Related
4PreparationReferences
Jaew Phrik Reaper
Isaan table sauce carrying a measured dose of chilli tincture
A table sauce in the same family. It takes its heat from a measured chilli tincture.
RecipeReferenced by
Gai Yang Isaan
Spatchcocked chicken in a pounded paste, cooked upright beside wood coals
A 1.2 kg chicken, spatchcocked and slashed. It marinates overnight in a pounded paste of coriander root, garlic, lemongrass and bird's eye chilli.
RecipeReferenced by
Gai Yang Isaan, oven
Fan oven with a steam tray below, then the top grill for the char
The same bird and the same paste as the fire method. The heat is different. A 1.2 kg spatchcocked chicken roasts on a rack at 220 degrees C fan.
The pattern
jaew dipping sauceThe plain idea under this dish. Cook it with what you have. The full recipe is on the Method tab.
toasted rice powder + toasted dried chilli and fresh chilli + fish sauce, lime and sugar dressing + shallot and spring onion + coriander
Other dishes with this pattern: jaew dipping sauce.
The parts
5binder
Sticky (glutinous) rice, toasted in a dry pan and pounded to a coarse powder
Takes up the free liquid and holds the sauce against the meat. Gives a nutty, roasted taste.
heat
Dried Thai chilli, toasted and pounded to coarse flakes, plus fresh bird's eye chilli, sliced thin
The dried chilli gives roasted depth. The fresh chilli gives a sharp heat on top.
- Swap: Add raw Carolina reaper flesh, placenta removed, minced almost to a paste, on top of the bird's eye chilli. Much hotter, with a fruit and floral smell. Dose: the flesh of 1 pod per bowl. Taste one small bite. Wait 15 minutes. Add the flesh of a second pod only after the wait, and only if the sauce needs more. Use 2 pods at most. The heat peaks 10 to 20 minutes after the bite. Never toast or blend the reaper. Wear gloves. Label the bowl.
dressing
Fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice
Fish sauce gives the salt. Lime gives the sour. A little sugar rounds the edges.
- Swap: White sugar in place of palm sugar. It works. White sugar gives only sweetness. Palm sugar also gives caramel notes. In a sauce this sour and salty, the difference is small.
aromatics
Shallot, sliced thin, and spring onion, sliced
Give a raw onion bite. The shallot softens in the salt and acid and adds liquid to the sauce.
herbs
Coriander leaf
Gives a fresh green top note.
The basic method
7- Toast the raw sticky rice in a dry pan on medium heat until it is deep gold and smells nutty. Shake the pan all the time.
- Pound the rice to a coarse powder. Do not make it fine.
- Toast the dried chillies in the same dry pan until they are dark red. Do not let them go black. Pound them to coarse flakes.
- Stir the sugar into the fish sauce until it dissolves. Then add the lime juice.
- Add the chilli flakes, the rice powder, the shallot, the fresh chilli and the spring onion. Stir.
- Leave the sauce for 5 minutes. Then taste it. Add lime juice for sour or fish sauce for salt.
- Stir in the coriander just before you serve. Make the sauce no more than 1 hour ahead.
What the full recipe adds
The full recipe gives exact amounts for a doubled batch, which is enough for one grilled chicken. It explains why the two chillies do different jobs: toasting browns the dried chilli and makes roasted flavour compounds, but it does not remove the heat. The fresh chilli keeps its green, sharp heat. It explains why the sugar goes into the fish sauce first: palm sugar dissolves poorly once acid is present. It explains why the sauce looks dry at first and loosens during the rest: salt and acid pull water from the shallot while the rice powder takes liquid up. It also says why the sauce does not keep: the lime aroma degrades and the herbs wilt.
The science
2What is actually happening in the dish, and why the techniques work.
M1
Two chilli forms, two jobs dried chilli toasted dark red · fresh chilli sliced raw
Dried chilli and fresh chilli are not the same ingredient in this sauce.
Dry-toasting browns the sugars and proteins in the dried pericarp. This is the Maillard reaction. It makes pyrazines, which taste roasted. Capsaicin is stable at this heat, so toasting does not remove the heat. It adds the roast on top.
Fresh bird's eye chilli carries volatile green compounds and water. Its heat arrives at once and is sharp.
The sauce needs both. The dried chilli gives the depth. The fresh chilli gives the top.
M2
The sauce loosens after it rests 5 min rest · taste after the rest · serve within 1 h
Salt and acid pull water out of the cut shallot. This is osmosis. The shallot softens and the sauce gains liquid.
At the same time the toasted rice takes liquid up.
The two effects settle after about 5 minutes. A sauce that looks dry at once is often correct after the rest. Taste it after the rest, not before.
Do not make it more than about one hour ahead. The aroma of lime juice degrades within the hour, and the herbs wilt.
Variations
2A variation is the same dish taken a different way. Each one keeps its own versions, and none of them replaces another. The first is the dish the rest came from.
Nam Jim Jaew 1 version You are here
The dish the others came from.
Nam Jim Jaew, Carolina reaper 1 version
With raw deveined Carolina reaper on top of the bird's eye