Green Nam Jim Recipe - Green Chili Dipping Sauce

A fierce green Thai dipping sauce — sharp with lime, hot with chilli, and heavy with coriander. Traditionally made with fish sauce; this version uses NISH, so it's entirely plant-based.

Sometimes called nam jim seafood, after its usual partner. Makes about 150ml. Ten minutes.

Ingredients

  • 10–15 green Thai bird's eye chillies, adjust to taste
  • 1 large handful fresh coriander, leaves and stems
  • 4–5 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 2–3 tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 2 tbsp NISH sauce
  • 1 tbsp palm sugar, or soft brown sugar
  • 1–2 tbsp water, to loosen
  • A few mint leaves (optional)

Method

  1. Rinse the coriander well and pat dry. Peel the garlic.
  2. Put the chillies, coriander, garlic, lime juice, NISH and palm sugar into a blender or small food processor.
  3. Blend to a smooth sauce. Add water a tablespoon at a time if it's too thick.
  4. Taste and adjust — more lime for sharpness, more NISH for salt, more sugar to balance the heat.
  5. Add the mint and blend again if using.

How to Serve It

Traditionally alongside grilled or fried food, where its job is to cut through richness. It works with grilled aubergine, charred broccoli, sweetcorn, fried tofu and mushrooms, and it makes a good dressing for a sharp green salad or a marinade for anything going on a griddle.

Serve it in a small bowl on the side rather than pouring it over — it's strong, and people want different amounts.

Notes

For less heat, split the chillies and scrape out the seeds and membranes before blending.

For a rougher texture, pulse rather than blend, or make it in a pestle and mortar — pound the garlic and chilli to a paste first, then work in everything else.

Keeps a week in the fridge in a sealed jar. The colour dulls after a day or two; the flavour doesn't.

A note on names: nam jim covers a family of Thai dipping sauces. This green, herb-heavy one is usually nam jim seafood. Nam jim jaew is a different thing entirely — darker, made with toasted rice powder and dried chilli, and served with grilled meat in the northeast.

NISH is brewed from wild Scottish seaweed — organic, vegan, and free from all 14 major allergens. More ways to use it.

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