Jitlada’s chef shares her family recipe for nam prik goong

Funky, salty and shrimpy, this dipping sauce comes from Jazz Singsanong of Jitlada restaurant. It’s meant for serving with cool, raw vegetables but works as a condiment for noodles, rice or other Thai dishes too. She made a batch for columnist Lucas Kwan Peterson in the first episode of the Times video series “Off Menu.” The recipe, as Singsanong makes it, turns out a pretty fiery dip; use fewer chiles for a milder option. You can find shrimp paste, Thai chiles and palm sugar at southeast Asian markets like LAX-C.

Food

Welcome to Off Menu, a new show about food and the people who feed us

Off Menu is a new food show from the L.A. Times. Because food is relatable — everyone loves it and has an opinion about what’s good.

Nam Prik Goong

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

• 6 ounces shrimp paste
• ½ cup cooked shrimp, chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• ¼ cup Thai chiles, stemmed
• ¼ cup softened palm sugar or packed brown sugar
• ¼ to ½ cup fresh lemon juice
• Crudites, for serving

Instructions

1. Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-low heat. Wrap the shrimp paste in a double layer of foil and enclose the packet. Grill the foil packet for 2 minutes; the paste should be very fragrant. Let cool, then unwrap.
2. While the shrimp paste cools, pound the shrimp, garlic and chiles in a mortar with a pestle until smashed into tiny bits. Or you can pulse the ingredients in a food processor. Add the palm sugar and shrimp paste and continue pounding or pulsing to form a coarse purée. Add ¼ cup lemon juice and stir or pulse until incorporated. Taste and add up to ¼ cup more lemon juice to taste.
3. Transfer to a serving dish and serve with crudites.