Nam Jim Jaew

First revision · 23 SEP 2026

PreparationFirst revisionVia mcp

Nam Jim Jaew

Name: Nam Jim Jaew
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 1 bowl for one bird
Ingredients: 30 g Glutinous rice, raw, dry; 16 piece Dried Thai chilli; 6 piece Bird's eye chilli, sliced thin; 60 ml Fish sauce; 10 g Palm sugar, shaved fine; 90 ml Lime juice; 4 piece Shallot, sliced thin; 5 piece Spring onion, sliced; 20 g Coriander leaf

Isaan dipping sauce of toasted dried chilli, toasted sticky rice, fish sauce and lime

A dipping sauce for grilled meat. It is a wet relish, not a pourable sauce. You drag the meat through it. Two chillies do two jobs. Toasted dried chilli gives roasted depth. Sliced fresh bird's eye chilli gives a sharp, immediate heat on top. Toasted glutinous rice, pounded coarse, takes up the free liquid and holds it against the meat. Fish sauce gives the salt. Lime gives the acid. A small amount of palm sugar rounds the edges. This is the doubled batch. The first batch was half this size and ran out on one bird.

CourseCondiment TechniqueDry-toasting CuisineIsaan EquipmentMortar and pestle OccasionParty TechniqueGrinding CuisineLao CourseSauce CuisineThai

Batch

Makes 1 bowl for one bird

Why the first revision

First version in the store. Records the doubled batch that the cook settled on for one bird. Palm sugar now dissolves in the fish sauce before the lime goes in, because palm sugar dissolves poorly once acid is present.

Khao khua

3 steps

1 A
Put the glutinous rice in a dry pan on medium heat. Shake the pan all the time.
30 g Glutinous rice
Work Dry-toasting
2 A
Toast the rice until it is deep gold and smells nutty.
30 g Glutinous rice
Time 5 min
Work Dry-toasting
3 A
Pound the rice in the mortar to a coarse powder. Do not make it fine.
30 g Glutinous rice
Work Grinding
Tool mortar and pestle

Chilli

3 steps

4 B
Put the dried chillies in the same dry pan on medium heat. Press and turn them.
16 piece Dried Thai chilli
Work Dry-toasting
5 B
Stop when they are dark red and smell roasted. Do not let them go black.
The walls are thin. A few seconds separate roasted from bitter.
16 piece Dried Thai chilli
Time 3 min
6 B
Pound the chillies coarse. Keep flakes and pieces. Do not make a powder.
16 piece Dried Thai chilli
Work Grinding
Tool mortar and pestle

Dressing

5 steps

7 C
Stir the palm sugar into the fish sauce until it dissolves.
Palm sugar dissolves poorly once acid is present. Dissolve it before the lime goes in.
60 ml Fish sauce 10 g Palm sugar
8 C
Add the lime juice. Stir.
90 ml Lime juice
9 C
Add the chilli, the rice powder, the shallot, the fresh chilli and the spring onion. Stir.
30 g Glutinous rice 16 piece Dried Thai chilli 6 piece Bird's eye chilli 4 piece Shallot 5 piece Spring onion
10 C
Leave the sauce for 5 minutes. Then taste it.
The sauce loosens while it sits. Do not correct it before the 5 minutes are over.
Time 5 min
11 C
Correct it with lime juice for sour or fish sauce for salt. Aim for salty, sour, hot and nutty.
60 ml Fish sauce 90 ml Lime juice

To finish

1 step

12 D
Stir in the coriander leaf just before you serve.
20 g Coriander leaf

Notes

CAUTION · SUBSTITUTION White sugar in place of palm sugar

The cook used white sugar when palm sugar was not available. It worked.

White sugar gives only sweetness. Palm sugar also carries caramel notes from the boil. In a sauce this sour and salty, the difference is small.

There is no cooking step here, so the sugar only balances sour and salt.

Provenance

Made first as the sauce for gai yang in a Berlin kitchen. Doubled after the first cook because there was not enough.

RecipeReferences

Laab Ped

Isaan duck laab

The science note on khao khua as an adsorbent is on Laab Ped.

PreparationReferences

Jaew Phrik Reaper

Isaan table sauce carrying a measured dose of chilli tincture

A table sauce in the same family. It takes its heat from a measured chilli tincture.

RecipeReferenced by

Gai Yang Isaan

Spatchcocked chicken in a pounded paste, cooked upright beside wood coals

A 1.2 kg chicken, spatchcocked and slashed. It marinates overnight in a pounded paste of coriander root, garlic, lemongrass and bird's eye chilli.

RecipeReferenced by

Gai Yang Isaan, oven

Fan oven with a steam tray below, then the top grill for the char

The same bird and the same paste as the fire method. The heat is different. A 1.2 kg spatchcocked chicken roasts on a rack at 220 degrees C fan.