Thai Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce Nam Jim Gai 🌶️🍯

Description

Nam Jim Gai is one of Thailand’s most recognizable dipping sauces, balancing chili heat, garlic, vinegar, and sweetness into a glossy sauce that works with spring rolls, grilled meats, and fried snacks. It is sticky, bright, gently spicy, and incredibly versatile. 🌿
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Hook ✨
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Sweet heat, sharp garlic, and glossy chili sauce create the Thai dip that makes almost everything on the plate taste better. 🌶️

Ingredients

• Sauce base
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• 🌶️ 80 g red chilies, deseeded and chopped (1 cup / 2.8 oz)
• 🧄 25 g garlic, chopped (8 cloves / 0.9 oz)
• 💧 120 ml water (½ cup / 4 fl oz)
• 🍬 150 g sugar (¾ cup / 5.3 oz)
• 🍶 80 ml rice vinegar (⅓ cup / 2.7 fl oz)
• 🧂 3 g salt (½ tsp / 0.1 oz)
• 🌽 10 g cornstarch (1 tbsp / 0.35 oz)
• 💧 15 ml water for slurry (1 tbsp / 0.5 fl oz)

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Blend the aromatics
2. ‎
3. Add red chilies and garlic to a blender and pulse until finely chopped but not completely smooth. 🌶️
4. ‎
5. 2️⃣ Start the base
6. ‎
7. Pour water, sugar, rice vinegar, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. 🍶
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9. 3️⃣ Add chili and garlic
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11. Stir the chopped chili garlic mixture into the saucepan and cook for 3–4 min until fragrant. 🧄
12. ‎
13. 4️⃣ Make the slurry
14. ‎
15. Mix cornstarch with the extra water until smooth and lump free. 🌽
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17. 5️⃣ Thicken the sauce
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19. Pour the slurry into the saucepan and stir continuously until the sauce turns glossy and lightly thickened. 🥣
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21. 6️⃣ Simmer briefly
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23. Cook for another 1–2 min so the flavors blend and the raw starch taste disappears. 🔥
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25. 7️⃣ Cool the sauce
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27. Remove from the heat and let the sauce cool so it thickens to the proper dipping texture. ❄️
28. ‎
29. 8️⃣ Serve or store
30. ‎
31. Pour into a jar or bowl and serve with spring rolls, fried snacks, or grilled dishes. 🍽️

Total Time

🕒 Prep: 10 min
🔥 Cook/Bake: 8 min
🛋 Rest: 10 min
⏰ Total: 28 min

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