Fish sauce vinaigrette
What is fish sauce? According to Wiki, fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine. My POV: it's a super smelly, salty AF, potent liquid that in its truest, purest form can probably scare away a vampire more than a necklace of garlic. A little drop goes a long way, and it is the biggest umami flavor bomb there ever was to come from SE Asia... maybe second to mam ruoc (which is a fermented purple/gray shrimp paste) and smells just as potent but maybe even more so... but when mixed herbs (lemongrass), ginger, garlic, pineapple and tons of lime juice becomes an amazing flavor booster. But back to fish sauce.. fish sauce is the base of the fish sauce vinaigrette. With the vinaigrette, you're adding ingredients to turn it from potent liquid into a versatile dressing.
How do we make it? There are a bunch of ways to make a fish sauce vinaigrette. My mother is from My Tho (the South), so we like things a little bit EXTRA... extra sweet, sour and spicy. Things are a little bit more elaborate when it comes to our food, garnishes, and dressing. I personally love mine extra sour and spicy - so lots of lime juice and chili peppers. I also LOVE adding ginger for that extra zing.
What do we use fish sauce for? I love to dip egg rolls or fresh salad rolls (goi cuon). I love dressing rice noodle salads with it or grilled meats. One of my favorite summer dishes is a salad of poached squid, shrimp, mango, cucumbers, and tons of herbs with this vinaigrette. It's light, healthy and has so much flavor.
Please for the name of all things holy, please do not use coconut aminos to substitute the fish sauce... unless you actually can't have fish sauce for some medical, health reason. Coconut aminos is great (I use it on a lot of things), but it's not a proper substitute for the real deal.
Whisk all ingredients together! Spoon generously over a rice noodle bowl salad or grilled meats with rice. Dip your egg rolls in it. Can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for up to 7 days.
