In today’s Thai food jargon, roasted chili paste is a mash-up of what were once two very distinct items: roasted chili paste (nam phrik phao; น้ำพริกเผา) and fried chili paste (nam phrik phat; น้ำพริกผัด). The former, and the older of the two, is produced by roasting all the ingredients; the latter by frying each ingredient individually.
Maawm Sohm Jeen’s roasted chili jam for salads consisted of dried chilies (5 pieces), shallots (18.75g) (5 saleung), garlic (15g) (1 baht), fermented shrimp paste (kapi) (7.5g) (2 saleung), coriander roots (3.75g) (1 saleung) and salt (1.88g) (1 feuang). All the ingredients were roasted, except the coriander roots, and then pounded together in a mortar and pestle into a fine paste.
The paste was simply seasoned with salt and used as part of Maawm Sohm Jeen’s salad seasoning dressing, which was further seasoned with fish sauce, sugar, lime juice or tamarind paste to a mildly spicy, mellow, three-flavor profile of sour leading, salty to follow, with a sweetness further rounded by the silkiness, creaminess, richness and natural sweetness of the coconut cream.
Not all of Lady Plean Passakornrawong’s salad dressings included roasted chili jam. In her recipe for pork skin salad (yam nang muu; ยำหนังหมู) she offers a glimpse of her roasted chili jam version, which included dried chilies (15g) (1 baht), shallots (7.5g) (2 saleung), garlic (11.25g) (3 saleung), coriander roots (3.75g) (1 saleung) and salt (1.88g) (1 feuang).
As an alternative to roasted chili jam, Lady Plean suggests using naam phrik laao (น้ำพริกลาว).
Ancient ‘naam phrik laao’ chili relish (ripe garlic chili relish) (น้ำพริกลาวโบราณ)
Naam phrik laao is almost identical to tamarind flesh chili relish (naam phrik sohm ma khaam bpiiak; น้ำพริกส้มมะขามเปียก) but, instead of using fresh garlic cloves, naam phrik laao deploys very ripe garlic cloves that have been stored long enough to turn transparent ivory and yellowish in color.
Ancient roasted chili jam (naam phrik phao bo:h raan ; น้ำพริกเผาโบราณ)
In today’s Thai food jargon, roasted chili paste is a mash-up of what were once two very distinct items: roasted chili paste (nam phrik phao; น้ำพริกเผา) and fried chili paste (nam phrik phat; น้ำพริกผัด). The former, and the older of the two, is produced by roasting all the ingredients; the latter by frying each ingredient individually.
Thai Chili Jam – This is a chili jam similar to what is commonly sold under the name of roasted chili paste (naam phrik phao; น้ำพริกเผา). It is widely used as a condiment in salad dressings, soups, and seasoning for stir-fried dishes. I like to have control over my pantry ingredients, so I always use homemade naam phrik phao. Furthermore, since it is a basic ingredient used in so many dishes, anything less than the best will drastically impair the quality of your dishes.
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