Nahm Prik Pao (Thai Chilli Jam)
This recipe used to scare me. There are so many moments where it can catch and burn. Frying chillies separately. Frying shallots. Frying garlic. Then you blitz them all together, add sugar and seasoning and the frying oil back in, and heat the whole thing again to caramelize the sugar. Each step is a burning opportunity. Mess it up at the end and it's like tripping up on your shoelace just before the last hurdle. But once you nail it, it's everything. Rich, umami, sweet, salty, all at the same time. This is how we make it at Farang, scaled down for a home kitchen. You'll use it on stir-frys, into soups, under grilled protein, through salads. It becomes one of those things you can't imagine cooking without.
Nahm Prik Pao (Thai Chilli Jam)
Serves: 2 (makes approx. 750ml) | Prep: 40 minutes | Cook: 30 minutes
Ingredients
For deep-frying:
60g dried red chillies (stems removed, slice them into similar-sized pieces so they fry at the same rate)
150g banana shallots (peeled, sliced into similar sizes)
50g garlic cloves (peeled, sliced to match the shallots)
Neutral oil, enough to deep-fry in batches (reserve the oil after frying, you need it later)
For the paste:
1.5 tsp roasted gapi (shrimp paste, wrapped in foil and toasted in a dry pan for a couple of minutes each side until fragrant)
15g galangal (peeled, sliced)
1.5 tbsp dried shrimp (soak briefly first if it tastes too salty, then dry it thoroughly, wet shrimp has no business near this paste)
For the base:
300g palm sugar (chopped or grated)
50ml fish sauce
25ml thick tamarind
25ml water
Method
Deep-fry the chillies first. Heat the oil to around 160°C. The chillies go quickly and burn if you look away, so watch it. Lift them out and drain. They'll crisp as they cool.
Fry the shallots until deep gold and crisp at the edges. Watch for uneven sizes burning while others stay pale. This is where consistent slicing matters. Lift out and drain.
Fry the garlic last, it catches faster than anything. Pale gold, no brown. Drain it.
Keep all the frying oil. Don't tip it down the sink.
Toast the shrimp paste. Wrap it in foil and dry-toast it in a small pan for a couple of minutes each side until fragrant. Your kitchen will smell like the docks. That's correct.
Pound the shrimp and galangal together. Pestle and mortar or a spice grinder, blitz down to a rough paste. Set aside.
In a food processor, blitz the fried chillies, shallots, garlic and toasted gapi with a splash of the reserved frying oil, just enough to bring it together into a rough, oily paste. Don't chase a smooth purée. Texture is the point.
In a wide, heavy-bottomed pot, warm the fish sauce and water gently. Add the palm sugar and stir until fully dissolved, no grit left at the bottom.
Add the blitzed fried paste and the shrimp and galangal paste to the pot. Stir in the tamarind. Mix until even.
Keep it on a gentle simmer, stirring regularly so it doesn't catch on the base. You're looking for jam-like, glossy, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. The sugar has already been through the frying stage. This is just caramelizing it. Burn it now and you've tripped up on your shoelace just before the finish line. Don't rush this.
Watch for the chunks to start settling at the bottom of the pan and the oil to split and sit on top. That's your signal. Remove from the heat.
Stir in a little more of the reserved frying oil until you get a slight oil split on top and a spoonable, glossy finish. Cool completely before jarring.
Chef's Notes
This keeps for weeks in a sterilised jar in the fridge, and it only gets better once everything has had a few days to settle into itself. Don't throw away the leftover frying oil. It'll have picked up chilli, shallot and garlic flavour and it's worth more than salt. Fry it through rice, drizzle it over a fried egg, splash it over a salad or a soup for colour and depth.
The reason consistent sizing matters: uneven pieces cook at different rates. Small pieces burn while large ones stay raw. By the time the large pieces are golden, the small ones are charcoal. Slice everything so the largest piece and the smallest piece are close in size.
Slice the chillies into pieces rather than leaving them whole. Whole chillies stay firm and take forever to fry. Sliced, they break down evenly. Same principle: even cooking.
The final simmer is not a boil. Low, gentle heat. The sugar is already cooked from being fried. You're just bringing it together and letting it caramelize slightly. Push the heat and it seizes, and there's no coming back from that.
Use it in the Stir-Fried Chicken with Nahm Prik Pao and Morning Glory for umami depth. A spoonful changes the balance of a Tom Kha Goong or a Smoked Chicken Tom Kha. Or just eat it with a spoon.
Visit us at faranglondon.co.uk. Sauces and pastes for cooking Thai at home at payst.co.uk.
For more recipes, signed copies of my cookbooks are available at Payst: Cook Thai and Thai in 7.
Head chef & founder of Farang London restaurant. Cookbook author of ‘Cook Thai’ & ‘Thai in 7’. Chief curry paste basher and co-founder of Payst London.