If you want to impress your guests with something a little different, this Vietnamese Nuoc Cham sauce is a game changer.
Our weekly market has a stall where they sell fantastic Vietnamese spring rolls. You can choose different sauces for them. Everyone generally takes the well-known sweet chilli sauce, but they also have Nuoc Cham.
The sauce is somewhat similar to chili sauce but is unique because of the addition of lime juice and fish sauce.
Nuoc Cham is a classic Vietnamese dipping sauce that delivers a punchy combo of sweet, tangy, salty, and spicy, all in one spoonful. It’s light, refreshing, and ridiculously easy to make with ingredients you’ll find at just about any grocery store.
Adjusting the quantities allows you to customise the sauce to your taste, making it as sweet or hot as you want.
It is a thin sauce with all the ingredients easily recognised, making it look fantastic on the plate. It is traditionally served with spring rolls, grilled meats, or salads, but you can splash it over chicken, shrimp, or roasted veggies.
We made our Nuoc Cham to pour over a nice piece of grilled skirt steak, but of course, you can do whatever you want with it. Once you have tried it, you will definitely make it again quickly when the spring rolls go into the fryer.
If you are also going to make this Vietnamese dipping sauce, let us know via the comments below. Or better, take a picture and post it on your social media channel. Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what you made.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp cane sugar
- 2 tbsp hot water
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 red chili pepper, finely chopped
Instructions
- Mix the hot water and cane sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
- Let the sauce rest in the fridge overnight to allow the flavours to blend beautifully.
