Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)

Ingredients

• 1 carrot, cut into fine matchsticks
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• ½ tsp salt
• 5 tbsp white sugar
• 8 tbsp water, warm
• 4 tbsp lime juice
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 garlic, very finely minced
• 2 fresh chilli, thinly sliced

Method

1. 1.

   Quick-pickle the carrot — Toss the carrot matchsticks with the rice vinegar, salt and 1 tsp of the sugar and set aside for 10 minutes, until they lose their squeak and turn flexible.

2. 2.

   Dissolve the sugar — In a bowl, stir the remaining sugar into the warm water until it dissolves completely and the liquid is clear, with no grit left at the bottom.

3. 3.

   Balance lime and fish sauce — Stir in the lime juice first, then the fish sauce, adding it a spoonful at a time and tasting as you go. You are after a sauce that reads sweet, then sour, then salty in that order, with none of the three shouting.

4. 4.

   Stir in garlic and chilli — Add the garlic and chilli last and stir once only. Minced this late they stay buoyant and float in flecks on the surface instead of sinking into a sludge at the bottom.

5. 5.

   Rest and divide into bowls — Drain the carrot and stir it through. Leave the sauce to sit for 10 minutes so the garlic mellows, then divide between small dipping bowls. It keeps for three days in the fridge, though the chilli grows fiercer.