4 Key Thai Food Condiments
In much the same way as Western cuisines make use of salt and pepper to enhance the flavor of dishes, Thai cuisine features a number of condiments that Thai people use liberally to make their food taste better. Part of the magic of Thai cuisine is how you can customize each plate of food to your own unique taste. Keep reading for a guide to the most popular Thai food condiments.
Prik Nam Pla
Prik nam pla, or chili fish sauce, is arguably the most popular condiment that Thai people love to use. This delicious and easy to make sauce turns a standard boring plate of boiled rice into a magical spicy, salty dish that dances on your tongue. To make prik nam pla, simply combine in a bowl 6 or 7 tablespoons of good quality Thai fish sauce with 1/2 cup of fresh lime juice, 6 small Thai chilis, three cloves of minced garlic, and a teaspoon of sugar. Serve alongside rice and grilled meats.
It’s really important to emphasize good quality fish sauce in this recipe. Think of how Italians only use good quality olive oil when using it to season food. The brand of fish sauce I most often use is one I have found online named Red Boat Fish Sauce. The bottle is on Amazon for like $16, which is well worth it because the flavor is amazing and much better than the cheap bottles of fish sauce you can buy in Asian markets.
Dried Chili Flakes
Otherwise known as prik bpon, dried chili flakes are another important condiment in Thai cuisine. Chili flakes are ground into a near powder and added to noodle soups for heat. In most restaurants in Thailand or street food stalls, you get served a bowl of noodle broth with base flavors, and the condiments are used to enhance the taste of the broth. People who like spicy food often add one to two teaspoons of prik bpon to their noodle soups. The great thing about chili flakes is that they are incredibly cheap and a box-full lasts you a long time. In many restaurants, the chili is combined with oil, which has been used to roast the chilis; this brings a wonderful nuttiness to the heat.
Pickled Peppers
There are many condiments in Thai cuisine, but pickled peppers represent one of the four main ones you’ll see throughout any visit to Thailand alongside prik nam pla, dried chili, and sugar. Pickled peppers add sourness to a dish and just a hint of heat. To make pickled peppers, simply combine a third of a cup of white vinegar with some chopped chili peppers. You want to choose chilis that aren’t too hot, so a basic Jalepeno or red chili pepper will do. Reserve the smaller Thai ‘mouse-shit’ chilis (yep, that’s what they’re called) for curries and other condiments such as prik nam pla.
Sugar
In Western cuisine, we rarely add sugar to savory dishes; definitely not as a condiment or seasoning after everything is finished cooking. In Thai cuisine, you’ll very often see sugar included with other condiments, and it’s often either palm sugar or brown sugar. Sugar plays an important role in that it helps to balance out the other flavors of a dish. Often, just a pinch or two makes a huge difference. Thai cuisine revolves around sweet, spicy, sour, and salty. The pinch of sugar is usually the only element of sweetness and it brings everything together as one harmonious dish.
That completes the guide to your basic Thai food condiments. Serve these with any noodle dish and you’ll get maximum flavor from it. Thais often serve these condiments in jars or ceramic sets with a teaspoon in each one. Many restaurants opt for a bottle of fish sauce instead of going to the effort of making prik nam pla. In this case, the fish sauce alone adds saltiness to the dish, and the other condiments add sour, sweetness, or heat.