This salad makes an excellent first course or a spicy accompaniment to any Chinese meal, meatless or not. This is a very basic recipe can add whatever ingredients you desire such as blanched Chinese pea pods.
Nam phrik kapi is probably the most well known nam phrik in Thailand. As the name suggests, it is made with kapi, a salted and fermented paste of fine shrimp known as khoei and is always served with fresh and/or parboiled vegetables, as well as egg-battered deep-fried vegetables, as described below. The amount of ingredients listed below for the nam phrik are largely for reference; a Thai chef would virtually never use measuring instruments to cook, and a dish is usually made to taste, keeping in mind a desired balance of the four tastes: sour, spicy, salty and sweet.
This is another northern style curry that has become popular among people all over Thailand. The main ingredient is phrik num, long slender green chiles that are almost exclusively used in this particular dish. Use whatever kind of skinny green chiles you can find. Depending on the chiles used, the nam phrik can range from mild to mouth-searingly hot.
This is the most basic form of the family of spicy relishes known as nam phrik in Thailand. Nam plaa phrik is spooned over one's rice to spice up bland food, much the way salt is used in the west.
This is the typical Thai chile sauce that is found in many forms--served in restaurants, bottled, and made in homes. There are many variations, of which this is probably the most basic. It is served with almost every Thai appetizer and entree.
This recipe is part of a five-part series devoted to chipotles--those many varieties of smoked chiles. You can go here to start reading--and cooking with--chipotles of all kinds.
