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Trang, Thailand – Nearly every time I sat down in southern Thailand, I was served a plate of nahm phrik alongside my meal (kind of like chips and salsa at a Mexican American restaurant).  You can find nahm phrik, a spicy dipping sauce, all over Thailand, though outside the south I usually have to order it.  Pounded in a mortar and pestle, the simplest nahm phriks are just a few ingredients.  Garlic, chilies, lime juice, fish sauce and shrimp paste (gapi) are common.  Some of the more complex ones require a little time in the wok, like my favorite the northern pork and tomato relish (nahm phrik ong), and others highlight ingredients like fish, tamarind and prawns among long, complex ingredient lists.

Just as you probably wouldn’t eat salsa alone (though I like to on occasion standing in front of the refrigerator spoon in hand), nahm phrik is always served as an accompaniment, typically to raw or blanched vegetables, and often in tandem with other dishes.  The first time I had nahm phrik, at a restaurant in Chiang Mai, I found it overwhelmingly fishy, presumably from the shrimp paste, and the appeal of raw vegetables with a bowl of the stuff perplexing.  Since then though, I’ve found nahm phriks that I really love and have even come to crave that spicy, sour and pungent sauce with some fresh vegetables.  So to those who say I’ll try everything once, I say if at first you don’t like it, try, try again.