Nước Chấm (Dipping Sauce)

Everyone knows that nước mắm (fish sauce) has a pungent smell. My husband can detect the slightest addition of fish sauce to any dish 🤣. And I will be the first to say, he’s not a fan of fish sauce. However, I believe that fish sauce is a must have in the pantry. Why? Because it is so versatile. I use it in my everyday cooking to add a depth of flavor that I cannot get otherwise. Besides cooking with it, you can turn fish sauce into a dressing (called nước chấm) for rice dishes, noodle dishes, or dipping sauces for spring rolls and egg rolls.

A good Vietnamese dipping sauce or dressing (nước chấm) requires a good fish sauce. So let’s talk about fish sauce and how to pick a quality fish sauce.

What is fish sauce?

Pure fish sauce is made of fish and salt. No additives. It’s made from fish and salt mixed together and left to ferment over a period of a year. As the fish ferments, it slowly breaks down to produce a liquid. The liquid gets extracted and becomes fish sauce.

How to buy fish sauce for dipping sauce?

Look at the label

Just like buying anything, reading the label is important.

• There are two famous regions in Vietnam that produces fish sauce: Phu Quoc and Phan Thiet.
• Pure fish sauce contains only fish and salt. Look for labels that says “cá cơm” in Vietnamese. This indicates that the fish sauce was made using a specific type of high quality anchovy that’s native to Phu Quoc.
• Be careful when reading the label. When buying fish sauce, you want the label to read “nước mắm” instead of “nước chấm”, which is the dipping sauce. I have made this mistake on occasions when I’m in a rush 🤣.

The Degrees (^oN)

This indicates the protein concentration in the sauce. This number ranges from 20^oN to 40^oN. The higher the number, the more expensive the fish sauce. The Red Boat brand is the brand I like to use for making dipping sauces.

First Draw or nước mắm nhĩ

Another thing to look for on the bottle are the words “nước mắm nhĩ”. This means that the sauce came from the first time the fermented fish are drained. Also referred to as the first draw. It is the highest quality of fish sauce. First drawn fish sauce is reserved to make Vietnamese dipping sauces/dressings (nước chấm) because of its pure, intense flavor.

Ingredients required

After picking a good fish sauce, you’ll need chili garlic sauce, vinegar, lime, sugar, water and freshly chopped garlic to make a tasty dipping sauce/dressing.

Uses for the sauce?

If you’ve had a dish called bún thịt nướng chả giò (a noodle, bean sprout, meat and egg roll bowl), you will see it comes with a side of dressing (nước chấm) to pour over the noodle bowl. You can’t really eat the noodle bowl without the dressing. The dressing adds spiciness, saltiness, sweetness and acidity to the dish. Without it, the dish would be bland. The dressing is often served with rice dishes as well.

Nước chấm can also be used as a dipping sauce for appetizers like egg rolls, Vietnamese spring rolls, and Vietnamese savory crepes (bánh xèo).

What it tastes like?

Even though it was made with fish sauce, it didn’t have any “fishy” taste or smell to it. Let me warn you though…this recipe is spicy. My husband loves spicy so I added more chili garlic sauce and freshly chopped red hot chili peppers.

The dipping sauce/dressing tastes slightly sweet, salty, spicy and has a tanginess from the lime juice and vinegar. Of course when making it, you can adjust any of the spice levels to your liking. Some prefer it to be more sweet, while others prefer it more spicy. So don’t be afraid to play around with how much of each ingredients you add.

Storing the dipping sauce

I store my dipping sauce (nước chấm) in a mason jar sealed with plastic wrap and a lid in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. As a rule of thumb, I always use a clean utensil when dispensing the dipping sauce (nước chấm).

The next time you make Vietnamese spring rolls or egg rolls, serve it with a side of Vietnamese dipping sauce (nước chấm).

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