A Thai Spicy Sauce for Crispy Fried Fish

Put the lump of palm sugar and tamarind paste in a small bowl. Add a cup of hot water and allow them to dissolve. Set aside.

Peel and chop up your shallots and garlic.

Once all the palm sugar and tamarind paste has dissolved, add the liquid (using a sieve to strain the tamarind pulp) into a wide pan. Cook on a high heat in order to reduce the liquid into a syrup. It is important to keep stirring to help this reduction process. Once the liquid becomes a thick sticky syrup take the pan off the heat and pour the syrup into a bowl and set it aside.

Add a few splashes of olive oil to the pan. Bring to a medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and then lower the heat as this allows the shallots and garlic to cook without risk of burning.

Chop up your tomatoes.

Raise the heat to medium and add the tomatoes to the pan. Add a pinch or two of sea salt. Give it a stir. Cook for a little bit and then add a few splashes of white wine. Allow the liquid to simmer on a medium-low heat.

De-seed and chop up the medium sized chillies. Don’t forget to remove the buds at the top.

Remove the buds and chop up the small chillies.

Add a few splashes of Thai fish sauce into your tomato mixture.

Once the sauce has thickened a bit add the chopped small chillies to the pan. Then add the medium chillies. Cook for a couple of minutes then pour in the palm sugar tamarind syrup. Give it a good stir. Let it cook until the sauce thickens.

Lower the heat and add a couple splashes of brandy. Stir the brandy into the sauce.

Adjust the saltiness of the sauce with fish sauce or salt.

Now you have a very delicious sauce… a sauce that is sweet hot and savoury for your use. This sauce is traditionally served with crispy fried whole fish such as sea bass or sea bream but can be enjoyed with many other fish, fowl, meat dishes.

Garnish your dish with a little coriander.

Enjoy.