Thai Green Chilli Paste {Nam Prik Noom}

Since I have been in Chiang Mai {Thailand}, I have been seeing and eating

this green chilli dip on a regular basis. 

In the market, near my home, there are a lot of vendors who sell it and I have had it with fried chicken, pork and/or with green boiled vegetables and of course, with sticky rice or Khao Niaow, in Thai.

It is delicious so, when I arranged a class with Fon,
 I asked her to teach me how to make this Northern Thai treat!

 She was talking and smiling from the minute I knocked on her door at 4h30 am, which happens to be the same door I walked by the other night and saw this lovely woman pouring her heart out
in front of a karaoke machine surrounded by some friends, drinking whisky and singing.
It was a Monday night. 7 pm. I thought of how lovely they were to ask me to join in by raising their glasses and making hand gestures for me to sit with them,
but I had to meet a friend, so I declined.

The next day, I walked by again and instead of karaoke, I found a noodle soup stand and had a fabulous meal. I asked her to teach me a few dishes but did not realized she was the singing lady until the end of our class when she began to sing along when this song came on the radio.
It mentioned Nam Prick Noom as you can see by her hand movements.

I wanna share this recipe with you and let Fon take the stage.

To hear Fon's fabulous rendition of a Thai classic, please click here}

You will need:

6 big green chillies
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
8 shallots or 1 small red onion {trim the ends but leave the skin on}
 1 bulb of garlic or a hand full of the little thai ones
2/3 cup of water
1 heap teaspoon shrimp paste
2 tablespoons of fish sauce {nam pla}

Wash and top the green chillies

Heat a wok with the oil and add the chillies 

and fry them in low heat for about 2 minutes 

Add the shallots and the garlic stir and add the water and bring to boil

Cook until the water is dried {medium heat} stirring every 30 seconds

When the water has dried, remove the shallots and garlic and reserve

Keep cooking the chillies until they look like this and are cooked through and soft

Peel and chop the chillies but do not remove the seeds unless you want it to be less hot

Discard the skins and reserve the flesh

Add the cooked ingredients to a pestle and mortar and pound until you get the desired texture

{if you want a smoother texture pound the shallots and garlic for about one minute before adding the chillies}

Add the shrimp paste and the fish sauce

Pound a little more to blend all the flavours and this is your final result!

So easy, delicious and keeps in the fridge for about 4 days or more depending 

on its temperature and sealing conditions.

You can make it ahead and use it with just about everything you want to eat!

let me know how it goes!!!

Yummy!!!!