Nam Prik Pao: the chilli paste that sparks a terror alert

Did you hear it on the news about the chilli paste that caused a terror alert in London yesterday? A Thai restaurant in Soho was preparing Nam Prik Pao, a chilli paste (or chilli jam) condiment used in Thai cooking. The process involves deliberately burning the chilli, causing pungent fume that was mistaken for a chemical attack. The area was evacuated while emergency crew searched for the source. The search ended at a large pot of burning chilli pods.

I know there's hardly anything funny about terror alerts in this day and age, but you must admit this one is almost hilarious. I can just picture the Thai kitchen staff whispering amongst themselves – you think that was our chilli...nyah it couldn't be, it doesn't smell that bad...oh, wait, could it?

Anyway, I thought the occasion appropriate to post my Nam Prik Pao recipe. I've been holding out of you people for ages now. Not that it's a super secret or anything, it's just that when I make it I do it in such a huge quantity that my recipe wouldn't work for most of you. I have been meaning to make a small quantity and write up the recipe but I just haven't got around to it yet, despite the odd email from people who stumbled onto my old post about the first time I made it, imploring me for the recipe.

Anyway, I've got a whole bunch of emails yesterday from people who read the news on BBC (or most likely on Boing Boing), then googled the word Nam Prik Pao and ended up on my blog. I ran out of my supply a while ago and needed to make some anyway, so I did, in a small enough quantity this time, for those of you who don't eat it for breakfast like I do. Here it is. Try it and let me know how it goes for you.

Nam Prik Pao (น้ำพริกเผา)

75g whole dried chilli, substitute about 7 tbsp chili powder
100g garlic, about 2 medium heads
150g shallots, about 5 medium shallots
1 cup, 250ml oil
100g palm sugar, about 10 tbsp, chopped
2 tbsp Thai shrimp paste
1/3 cup tamarind pulp*
3 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup water

First you prepare the ingredients

Set a wok over medium heat. When the wok is hot, add the dried whole chilli. Stir vigorously, until the chilli pods begin to smoke and burn in places. (Be careful with this step or you might burn your eyes with the smoke, or worse yet, cause a terror alert or something.) Remove the chili from the heat. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, peel garlic and shallots and cut into thin slices. It may sound daunting but this is a step I always do by hand. Most food processor will turn the garlic into mush and not slices. Keep the garlic and shallot slices separated for now, they will have to be fried separately.

Add 1 cup of oil into a wok over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the garlic slices. Keep stirring to make sure that all the garlic are cooked evenly. When the garlic turn light golden brown – don't let them turn too dark now as they will continue to cook a bit more off the heat - use a colander to fish out all the garlic flakes. Set aside.

Add the sliced shallots into the remaining oil in the pan. Cook until they are golden brown, stirring frequently to prevent hot spots. When the shallots are done, turn the heat off, fish the fried shallot flakes out with the colander and leave the oil in the pan. Set aside.

The burnt chilli pods should be cool enough to be handled by now. With a sharp knife, cut off the stem and then make a long slit lengthwise, split open the chilli pods and remove the membrane and seeds. Disgard the membranes and the seeds. Put the pods into a food processor or a spice grinder, process into fine powder. You can also do this in a mortar and pestle but it will take you a while. Set the chili powder aside.

Put the fried garlic and shallot flakes into a food processor and process into fine bits. This step is traditionally done in a mortar and pestle, but it's so much easier in a food processor. Transfer the garlic and shallots into a small bowl and set aside.

Prepare about 1/2 cup of tamarind pulp. (I've already explained how to prepare tamarind pulp in a post on Pad Thai.) You may not need to use the whole amount, but it's good to have a little extra.

Now you make the Nam Prik Pao

Set the wok with the remaining oil back over medium high heat until hot. Form the shrimp paste into a ball and flatten it slightly. Fry the shrimp paste in the hot oil for one or two minutes until fragrant.

Add five tablespoons of chilli powder, stir well to mix. Then, add the ground garlic and shallots, tamarind pulp, fish saunce and chopped palm sugar, mix well. Add the water, and stir well. Taste the mixture and adjust by adding more sugar, tamarind, or chilli as needed. The flavor should be sour, sweet, salty, and with a good smoky and spicy note at the end. (Despite what you might have heard, Nam Prik Pao is not supposed to be fiery hot.)

Turn the heat down to simmer and let the mixture simmer until reduce a little bit, to the texture of loose jam. Don't reduce it too much at this point as it will thicken as it cools.

Transfer the Nam Prik Pao into an airtight container – I love to use old jam jars for this. Nam Prik Pao will keep in the cupboard for a few months.

What does one do with Nam Prik Pao, you asked? Well, if you are like me you eat it spread like jam on white toast for breakfast. Make your significant other eat it too or it'll just be the end for you two. You can make Tom Yum Goong with it, or use it as a base for spicy stir-fries.

Comments

[Sanja]

I'm so glad to read "Nam Prik Pao is not supposed to be fiery hot" since I can't eat too hot food. That it's reason way I do not use chili in my cooking and do not know much about it. After reading this post I'll definitely try it! Thank you!

[Simon]

Pardon the obvious question, Pim: is there a specific varietal of dried chili that one would prefer to use?

[Scott]

Hi Pim, thanks for sharing. I'd like add another warning to your readers who may try this out. When "burning" the chili pods, make sure you have your hood on high and that it vents to the outside. If not, you might want to cook the chili pods outside on the grill.

My hood vents back into my kitchen (stupid design, I know) and the last time I roasted some chilies my mother-in-law was over for dinner. She had a coughing fit from the smoke produced by the roasting chilies. It was hot, the house stunk, and I'm not allowed to roast chilies in the house anymore!

[penny]

Funny stuff. My Dad told me about this he was totally laughing about this. I know there must have been a story about Durians too. My Mom makes pad gai prow really spicy for me since I love it that way and she grows the small hot chilli peppers. When she fries the garlic with the chilli peppers in the with her. :)

[say ong]

Yahoo, thanks for the recipe. Will try this weekend. Let my neighbours suffer. Hahahaha.

[over eater]

the dried chillis are fried dry right? no oil?

[SamanthaF]

I'm a lucky girl that has a jar of Pims delicious Nam Prik Pao, but as soon as it runs out, I'll know what to.

[Kevin]

I did hear about the 'non-terror-incident'. So did you attract any...attention when you made yours?

[Reid]

Pim,

Thanks for sharing this recipe. I like the idea of having this on white bread for breakfast.

[PhilD]

Pim,

It looks like the Nam Prik Pao that caused the headlines in London is quite powerful - this is a quote from, Patrick Barkham, the reporter who sampled it at the Thai Cottage restaurant that was cooking it, it is from the "Guardians Unlimited" site:

"I have never had the misfortune to be struck hard by the hoof of a mule but I imagine it would feel something like the sensation that kicked in exactly two seconds after swallowing a spoonful of Sue Wasboonma's nam prik pao....she serves me a generous dollop from her latest batch. (Wasboonma, her husband and nephew are proud to make fresh sauces in their own kitchen rather than importing them from Bangkok.) "But it's not the hottest." I'm not sure I believe her. Tiny flakes of dark red chillies stick out menacingly from a coal-black paste of pure fire with the texture of caramelised onions."

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2183056,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=44

[Li Ping]

Hi Pim, I've been following your blog for a while but never posted a comment. Just wanna say a BIG THANK YOU for being so generous in sharing your Nam Prik Pao recipe. I look forward to making my first batch of Pim Aunty's Nam Prik Pao :)

[Rasa Malaysia]

This is almost similar to Malaysian roasted chili paste I make for Nyonya dishes, but with lemon grass and without palm sugar. Most of the time, I use only dried chili and oil--the plain roasted chili oil coz not all Malaysian recipes call for shrimp paste, garlic, and shallots.

About the terror alert, well, I don't blame them. Everytime I make my roasted chili paste at home, the smell lingers for days--the roasted chili smell just doesn't go away!

[Pim]

Sanja,
You can't skip chilli in this recipe, I'm afraid, or it won't be Nam Prik Pao at all. But ultimately it's your food and you can add as little chilli as you'd like.

Simon,
In Thailand we use the chilli called Prik Chee Fah Haeng. In the US I use a mixture of Anaheim and a few Arbol chilli. The goal is to use chilli that is not too hot, because you want to be able to add enough so that you get the bright, slightly acidic, and smoky flavors from the chilli without committing suicide eating it. I also wouldn't use chilli that's too dark and smoky, like Ancho or Chipotle, as the smoky note will be too strong in the finished paste.

Scott,
Yes, do this with the hood on or the windows open, absolutely.

Penny,
Oh, yes, you'd better not look too closely when your mom fry that stuff or you'll be crying for hours.

say ong,
I'm sure they'll forgive you when you give them a taste. ;-)

over eater,
Yes, dry frying the chilli pods, no oil

Sam sweetie,
I'll bring you another one soon enough. ;-)

Kevin,
Not lately. I haven't lived in big apartment buildings in a while. I remember when I lived in one of those behemoth on the East Coast our apartment used to be the stinkiest in the entire floor, or entire building for that matter.

Reid,
You'll love it.

PhilD,
Hmm, I think that passage probably suffers from a tiny bit of over-dramatising. That, or the reporter in question is not used to spicy food. Nam Prik Pao is a condiment that's used not for the heat alone, but the balance of sour, sweet, salty, and hot. When you cook with it you almost always add fresh chilli during the cooking, so the paste itself is never fiery hot. Hot enough to scare some people, mind you, but not something we think of as spicy first, unlike many other condiments in Thai cooking.

It's really a misconception that authentic Thai food is supposed to always be fiery hot. I always find it funny to hear people ask restaurants to make everything "authentically spicy". It's macho if a bit misguided.

Li Ping,
You're welcome. Let me know how it goes.

Bee,
I am not surprised that it's similar to something in Nyonya cooking. We are close relatives, really. Culinarily speaking of course. I'm also not surprised that we use palm sugar in this specific recipe when the nyonya recipe doesn't. Nam Prik Pao is a central Thai recipe, folks in the central plain of Thailand love to use sugar in our cooking to "round the flavors." There are chilli paste recipes from the North, Nam Prik Larb for example, which would be sacrilege to add sugar of any kind in it.

[Zee]

Hi Pim, I agree with Li Ping - THANK YOU! I've een reading your blog for while now and have hoped you'd be kind enough to post your Aunty's recipe. Hooray!!
:)

[Diane]

Oh thanks, Pim!!! I buy locally made NPP in a small store in Oakland Chinatown, but have always wanted to make my own (I've been one of the people bugging you for the recipe...). I just bought a brand new bag of dried chilis last week, so I am primed and ready to do this.

I did see this article and laughed at it, but having been on the receiving end of burning chili fumes, I know they can be quite something. I think last time I dry-roasted chilis for some reason I decided to lean over and smell them (yes, even knowing better - I still did it). Man was that a bad personal choice - it was like tear gas.

[Andy Roberts]

Is it really necessary to fry each of ingredients seperately or could you just put them in together in the right order at the right time?

http://ukcider.co.uk/blog

[Andy Roberts]

Is it really necessary to fry each of ingredients seperately or could you just put them in together in the right order at the right time?

http://ukcider.co.uk/blog

[Rasa Malaysia]

Pim, thanks for your comment reply. What is a good brand to buy if I want to get off-the-shelf? Heading back to Penang and might sneak into the border town to get some supplies. ;)

[Chris Riddle]

I was trapped in work while this was going on outside. I couldn't smell anything from my window though. I may have to pop over to the restaurant for lunch one day, sample some of their biohazard chilli.

[Tommy]

I'm thinking this sauce would be great combined with caramelized onions and served over open faced sliders. Tiny, unassuming little thai hamburgers of fire (I'll be amping up the chiles a bit)... My friends won't know what hit them!

[Arho]

Thanks for the recipe! I've been eyeing the one in Thompson's Thai Food for a while, but as some stuff in that book is, it's been a little too intimidating for me. This walkthrough was perfect. It came out probably a little spicier than intended, as some of my chilies were a little small and I wasn't careful enough with picking out the seeds and membranes, but it is still delicious (and definitely not fiery hot).

Just enjoying a chicken stirfry with it. Ah, good times.

[carla]

Dearest Pim,
Thank you, Thankyouthankyou!
I have been waiting, patiently for this recipe of yours for a couple of years. Yay! cannot wait to try it!

[Paula]

Pim,
your post had me laughing out loud! How funny!My husband would kill for your NPP. I'll have to try it and hope that the authorities aren't called:)

[Barbara]

I read that story and laughed like a fool.

The vent hood for my range is quite powerful, and I live up on the top of a fairly steep hill.

When I am cooking Thai food, or spicy Chinese food, folks driving up the hill, with their windows open, get a whiff of the chili scent as they come up.

My friends swear that before they get in sight of my house, if I have the vent hood going, they know exactly what I am cooking for dinner.

The neighbors say that I have improved the atmosphere of the hill since I had my kitchen remodeled, so I guess they are not complaining, nor are they phoning in terror alerts. If they smells something strong and spicy, they just figure its me, making dinner.

I'll have to make your Nam Prik Pao and see what they think of that. See if the department of Homeland Insecurity comes to pay me a visit....

[pascale]

I love your post. Is it what you gave me in a litle pot 2 years ago ? If yes, I still dream about it.
Many thanks for the recipe.

[Helen]

Ha ha! I love it. I had a similar experience recently when making pickled onions. I Was unaware that boiling vinegar removes oxygen from the air as well and producing a foul odour! I soon became aware however, when I found that I was having difficulty breathing......

[Christina]

A chili paste that causes a terror alert? I must try your recipe. Thanks for sharing.

[Brianu]

hmmmm...spicy,, seems too delicious, My mouth is watering now..I love to buy my yummy food from Restaurant.com, Appetizerstogo.com and Alazing.com stores at couponalbum.com..

[Simon Evans]

Hello Pim

Could you please, for us ignorant Europeans, provide either a volume (ml/l) or weight (g/kg)
for your ingredients - we don't use cup measures

[Ryeo]

Thanks for the recipe!! Ever since I read the first time you made it I was so envious!!

Can you help understand the type of whole dried chilli you used?

Thanks and keep up the good work!

[Ryeo]

Ooops..ignore my last question.

[Lizzie]

I made this the other week, from your recipe. It was fabulous and I still have my lungs. Thanks!

[Pim]

Zee,
You're welcome.

Diane,
Where do you buy Nam Prik Pao in Oakland? I'd love to know.

Andy,
You need to fry the ingredients separately because they don't all cook at the same time. Adding each at the right time sounds easy but I'm afraid the margin of error is too big for me.

Bee,
When I run out of homemade one I use the Pantainorasingh brand in a pinch - the logo has a strangely garbed dude rowing a long boat.

Chris,
Try it and tell us all about it.

Tommy,
A Thai slider, now that's a slider I can love.

Arho,
Congrats. Different batch of dried chillies will have different spiciness. It's best to taste as you go along.

Paula,
Good luck!

You too Barbara.

Pascale,
Yes, that's the same thing. Now you can make it yourself!

Helen,
I have the same problem when making ajaad, a sort of quick pickle to accompany satays.

Christina,
Good luck to you too!

Simon,
I did!

Ryeo,
That's a tough one. In Thailand the chilli we use is called Prik Chee Fah Hang. The nearest equivalent I've seen is Anaheim (also called New Mexico or California Chilli). You should find chilli that is on the mild side, and not too smoky or acidic. Ancho or Chipotle, for example, wouldn't work so well. Sometimes the Anaheim chilli I use is too mild, in which case I add a few dried Arbol chilli pods to heat it up a bit.

When I'm in Paris I buy the Rooster brand at Tang Frères. I can find the same stuff at Asian markets in London.

Lizzie,
Great. I'm glad you like it.

[Dorry]

Hi Pim,

I prepared your recipe today, and I am so desperate: No fire brigade here in Berlin Germany ;)!

I think I burned the chilis a bit too much and have to be more careful next time. It was very easy to get the seeds out of them by breaking and shaking them.

I compared my production to a ready made paste which I have in my fridge - wow - guess which one won? Thanks a lot! Yours is so much better!

[Rasa Malaysia]

Pim, my brother's gf who is a Thai (living in Penang) bought me a big "tin" of NPP. The brand is Mae Phranom...I am so happy. I tested the gf's clams with Thai basil with this NPP and WOW, it was so good.

[sandra]

just tried this. think i burnt the shrimp paste a little and under-burnt the chilli pods. it still tasted pretty good. i think anything with palm sugar usually tastes fantastic.

the only really tedious step is de-seeding the chillis. does it make a huge difference in taste if i just buy chilli powder? What if i toasted the chili powder instead?

[Sonia]

I can't wait to make this recipe. I cook a lot of Thai recipes.

Thanks
Sonia

[vicki]

hello...
how long does this paste last in an opened jar in the fridge??

[Tony]

Pim,

Have been reading your blog for ages, but this is my first, well, second attempt at nam prik pao.

The first time I tried it, the recipe called for fried dried shrimp (a LOT) in addition to the shrimp paste. It also didn't call for finely grinding the chiles. I ended up with an OK-tasting but lumpy and nearly overpoweringly fishy nam prik pao. Good in tiny tiny quantities, but not really something to spread on toast.

When I saw your recipe the other night, I gave it a whirl. Easy to do, and OMG, delicious! Now, two days later, my house still smells like shrimp paste, but it's worth it!

[Adelina]

Love visiting your web site during my breaks at work! Thanks for sharing your gift!