This naam prik pao recipe produces one of those Thai pantry staples. It's described as a chilli sauce, sometimes called roasted chilli paste, but the texture and flavour sit somewhere between a jam and a condiment — sweet, smoky, garlicky and not too spicy. Add it to soups and stir fries for instant depth, or — and this is not a joke — spread it on toast. It works.

Naam Prik Pao — sweet, smoky, garlicky Thai chilli sauce from Casa Adora – The Flexible Chef

The technique here is worth following carefully. The chillies, garlic and shallots are each fried separately in oil before being blended together, which gives the finished sauce a depth that simply mixing and cooking everything together doesn't achieve.

Tamarind comes in a block — available online, as is the shrimp paste. Break off a small piece, dissolve in hot water and push through a sieve. What passes through is what you need; what stays in the sieve goes in the bin.

The Naam Prik Pao Recipe

Ingredients

• 250ml vegetable oil
• 75g dried red chillies, deseeded
• ½ inch piece tamarind block, dissolved in 100ml hot water and sieved
• 20 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• 5 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp shrimp paste
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 100g brown sugar

Method

1. Break the tamarind into 100ml hot water, mix well and push through a fine sieve. Discard what remains in the sieve — the liquid is what you need.
2. Deseed the dried chillies.
3. Heat the oil in a wok over a medium-high heat — hot but not smoking. Add the chillies and stir for 20 seconds then remove and set aside.
4. Add the garlic to the same oil and stir until it just begins to colour. Remove and add to the chillies.
5. Sauté the shallots in the same oil until golden brown. Transfer to a blender with the chillies and garlic. Pulse until you have a smooth paste.
6. Reduce the heat under the wok. Add the shrimp paste and fry for a minute or two, then add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
7. Add the blended paste, the tamarind liquid and the fish sauce. Stir and cook for 2–3 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.
8. Leave to cool, then store in the fridge for up to a month, or freeze in portions.

What to do with it

Add a spoonful to soups and stir fries, stir into noodles, use as a dipping sauce, or spread on toast. That last one sounds unlikely. It isn't.

Footnote This naam prik pao recipe is part of my Curry Recipes collection — the complete guide to curries, spice blends, bases, chutneys and sides from The Flexible Chef. Explore the full Curry Recipes hub.

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