Ingredients Condiments Nuoc Cham Be the first to rate & review! Sauces are key in Viet cooking; keep the most versatile sauces in your back pocket. Deploy them for traditional dishes, or use them to add a Viet imprint to anything from breakfast scrambles to DIY fusion tacos. Each Viet cook has a take on this ubiquitous sauce. Pronounced “nook chum,” nuoc cham literally means “dipping sauce,” but is also used to dress noodle bowls and can be sprinkled onto rice. Its lightness enhances other ingredients instead of taking over the entire dish. By Andrea Nguyen Andrea Nguyen A bank examiner gone astray, Andrea Nguyen is living her dream of writing impactful cookbooks and teaching others how to cook well. She recently won a James Beard Award for The Pho Cookbook. Her new book, Vietnamese Food Any Day, empowers you to make Viet food whenever you want; no Asian markets required.Experience: A Vietnamese-American and award-winning cookbook author, editor, teacher, food journalist, recipe developer, and consultant, Andrea Nguyen has been writing about and teaching Vietnamese and Asian cooking for more than 26 years. Andrea has worked with some of the nation's top publications, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Lucky Peach, Saveur, Wall Street Journal, Sunset, Bon Appetit, and Cooking Light. She has been a contributor at Food & Wine since 2021. In addition to the award-winning The Pho Cookbook (2017), her other titles, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen (2006), Asian Tofu (2009), and The Banh Mi Handbook (2014) have been recognized as some of the best cookbooks of the year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and National Public Radio (NPR). Her latest cookbook Vietnamese Food Any Day (2019) was named one of the best cookbooks of the year by NPR, Bon Appétit, Washington Post, and The New York Times. Andrea is a sought-after recipe developer and Asian food consultant for companies such as Nestle USA, Charlie Hong Kong, and Saigon Siblings.Education: Andrea has a Bachelor of Science in International Finance and Chinese Language, as well as a Master of Arts in Communication Management from the University of Southern California. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on February 1, 2019 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Greg DuPree Total Time: 10 mins Yield: 1 cup Ingredients 1/2 cup warm water, plus more as needed 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 2 limes), plus more to taste 2 tablespoons granulated sugar or 3 to 4 tablespoons pure maple syrup, plus more to taste 2 teaspoons rice vinegar (optional) 3 tablespoons fish sauce (such as Three Crabs), plus more to taste OPTIONAL ADD-INS 1/2 small carrot, matchstick-cut or coarsely grated (2 tablespoons) 1 (1-ounce) Thai chile or serrano chile, unseeded and thinly sliced, or 2 to 3 teaspoon Asian chile-garlic sauce or sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste) 1 large garlic clove, minced (1 1/2 teaspoons) Directions Stir together 1/2 cup water, lime juice, and sugar in a small bowl until sugar dissolves. Add additional lime juice and/or sugar to taste; dilute with water if flavors are too strong. If there’s an unpleasant tart-bitter edge, add rice vinegar to fix flavor. Stir in fish sauce; add additional fish sauce to taste. (How much you use depends on the brand and your own taste.) Aim for a bold, forward finish that’s a little gutsy. Keep in mind that this sauce typically dresses dishes that include unsalted ingredients such as lettuce and herbs, which will need an extra flavor lift. If using, stir in carrot, chile, and/or garlic. (Offer chile on the side if diners are sensitive to its heat.) Serve sauce in a bowl on the table so diners may help themselves, or divide among small individual bowls in advance. Make Ahead The sauce can stand at room temperature up to 8 hours until serving. Lime juice dulls and can make the sauce slightly bitter if left longer; combine water, sugar, and fish sauce to make a base, then refrigerate, covered, up to 2 weeks. (Prep a double batch if you use it a lot.) To finish, add lime juice, vinegar (if using), and any desired add-ins. Notes VARIATIONS: For a vegetarian nuoc cham: Stir together 3 tablespoons light brown sugar (or 4 to 5 tablespoons pure maple syrup), 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, and a rounded 1/2 teasopon finely ground sea salt in a small bowl until sugar dissolves. Taste and add additional sugar or up to 1 teaspoon rice vinegar to round out the lime juice. Stir in 2/3 cup lukewarm water and 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce. Finish with any add-ins before serving. Rate it Print