Nahm Prik Pow (Thai Roasted Chile in Soya Bean Oil or Roasted Red Chili Paste)()

Also referred to as “chili jam,” palm sugar gives this moderately spicy paste a sweet taste with a cloying quality. Garlic, shallots, dried shrimp, chilies, and galangal (a ginger-like rhizome, see are each independently fried or grilled and then combined with oil, shrimp paste, palm sugar, and tamarind pulp and simmered until a thick jam is produced. All that preparation leads to a harmonious chili paste often used as the base to Thai hot-and-sour soups. Stir into a cool noodle salad for a roasted spicy sensation.