While you can find Nam Prik Pao, Thai Red Chili Paste, in many grocers, let alone any Asian market, it is not hard to make and, as always, is better fresh. The paste offers a strong, roasted pepper taste with salty, sweet, and nutty notes. Great in soups, or coating blanched cabbage, or atop rice.
Nam Prik Pao
Makes a small jar's worth.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 shallot, minced
6 cloves garlic, pealed, smashed, and minced
8 dried red thai bird's eye chili peppers (prik ki nu), finely-sliced
1 tablespoon fish sauce (nam pla)
2 tablespoons palm sugar (nam taan pep)
In a saute pan over medium heat with one tablespoon of oil, saute the shallot for one minute. Add the garlic and saute for 30 more seconds. Using a slotted spoon, remove the shallot and garlic from the oil and reserve to a bowl.
In a clean saute pan again over medium heat with one tablespoon of oil, saute the Thai peppers until they begin to change color, about 2-3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pepper from the oil and reserve to the same bowl as the shallot and garlic.
Add the fish sauce and palm sugar to the bowl. Using a pestle, mix the ingredients together and into a paste.
Return the ingredients to a clean saute pan, this time over low heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Slowly cook, folding the ingredients together, until a homogeneous blackish-red paste. Store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Variation: You can add more fish sauce (nam pla) or palm sugar (nam taan pep) as desired, yielding a nuttier, saltier, or sweeter paste.
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