---
title: 'Nam Jim Jaew, Carolina reaper'
slug: 'nam-jim-jaew-reaper'
kind: 'preparation'
revision: 1
variantOf: 'nam-jim-jaew'
source: 'mcp'
created: '2026-09-23T15:59:07.646Z'
url: 'https://noble-notations.ryanjnoble.dev/recipes/nam-jim-jaew-reaper'
---

# Nam Jim Jaew, Carolina reaper

_The plain jaew with raw deveined Carolina reaper, dosed one pod at a time_

The same toasted rice, toasted dried chilli, fish sauce and lime base as the plain jaew. The flesh of deveined Carolina reapers goes in raw, minced almost to a paste.

Removing the placenta takes out most of the capsaicin and keeps the fruit and floral aroma of the flesh. In an acid base the heat arrives in pulses, not as one wall.

Dose one pod, taste once, then wait 15 minutes. Reaper heat peaks late.

Make it beside the plain jaew. The simplest way is one base split into two bowls, with the reaper going into one.

## Why this revision

First version. Written before the first batch was eaten. It is the plain jaew with the flesh of deveined Carolina reapers added raw, dosed one pod at a time with a 15 minute wait between.

## Variations

The same dish taken different ways. Each one keeps its own versions.

- Nam Jim Jaew (`nam-jim-jaew`)
  - Nam Jim Jaew, Carolina reaper (`nam-jim-jaew-reaper`) — this one — With raw deveined Carolina reaper on top of the bird's eye

## Categories

- **Course**: Condiment, Sauce
- **Technique**: Dry-toasting, Grinding
- **Cuisine**: Isaan, Lao, Thai
- **Equipment**: Mortar and pestle
- **Occasion**: Party

## Ingredients


### Khao khua

- 30 g Glutinous rice, raw, dry

### Chilli

- 16 piece Dried Thai chilli
- 6 piece Bird's eye chilli, sliced thin
- 1–2 piece Carolina reaper, placenta removed, flesh minced almost to a paste

### Dressing

- 60 ml Fish sauce
- 10 g Palm sugar, shaved fine
- 90 ml Lime juice
- 4 piece Shallot, sliced thin
- 5 piece Spring onion, sliced

### To finish

- 20 g Coriander leaf

## Method


### Prepare

1. Put on gloves. Keep them on until the reaper is in the bowl.

### Khao khua

2. Put the glutinous rice in a dry pan on medium heat. Shake the pan all the time. _(Dry-toasting)_
3. Toast the rice until it is deep gold and smells nutty. _(5 min · Dry-toasting)_
4. Pound the rice in the mortar to a coarse powder. Do not make it fine. _(Grinding)_

### Chilli

5. Put the dried chillies in the same dry pan on medium heat. Press and turn them. _(Dry-toasting)_
   > Only the dried chillies go in the pan. Never the reaper.
6. Stop when they are dark red and smell roasted. Do not let them go black. _(3 min)_
7. Pound the dried chillies coarse. Keep flakes and pieces. _(Grinding)_
8. Mince the flesh of one reaper by knife, almost to a paste.
   > A piece left whole puts the heat of a whole pod into one bite.

### Dressing

9. Stir the palm sugar into the fish sauce until it dissolves.
   > Palm sugar dissolves poorly once acid is present.
10. Add the lime juice. Stir.
11. Add the dried chilli, the rice powder, the shallot, the bird's eye chilli and the spring onion. Stir.
12. Stir in the minced reaper.
13. Leave the sauce for 5 minutes. Correct the salt and sour with fish sauce or lime juice. _(5 min)_

### Dose

14. Taste one small bite. Wait 15 minutes before you decide anything. _(15 min)_
15. Only then mince and add the second reaper, if it needs more.

### To finish

16. Stir in the coriander leaf just before you serve. Label the bowl.

## Notes

### Taste once, then wait. Label the bowl. _(warning)_

Reaper heat peaks 10 to 20 minutes after the bite. A taste straight after mixing reads far milder than the sauce really is.

Taste one small bite. Then wait 15 minutes before you add the second pod. Do not taste and correct in quick rounds.

Once dressed, this bowl and the plain jaew look the same. Label the bowl or serve it on a different plate.

Put cold full-fat yoghurt or milk on the table. Casein lifts capsaicin off the tongue. Water only moves it around.

Conditions: taste once · wait 15 min · label the bowl

### Never toast or blend the reaper _(warning)_

Only the dried Thai chillies go in the dry pan. A reaper in a dry pan or a blender puts capsaicin into the air and makes the room unusable.

The reaper goes in raw. Its fruit and floral aroma sits in the flesh and is volatile, so raw keeps it.