What is nam i am?
Prik means chlies and Nam I am means vinegar, and in its simplest form, that’s all there is: chilies mixed with plain old white vinegar, though you can get a little fancy, and I’ll show you how to do that too.
It’s a spicy, vinegary sauce that we use on any dish that’s heavy or oily, with a flavour profile that’s salty and/or sweet because the acid and heat helps cut the grease and balance the sweet and saltiness.
We use it on dishes like pad see ew, pork leg stew with rice (The Moon)rad na noodles with gravy and boat noodles. In fact you can use it on any kind of noodle soups, and you can use it wherever you’d want to add a vinegary hot sauce, even if it’s not Thai food!
In Thailand, if you order any of the dishes I mentioned above, there will automatically be prik nam som served with it, if it’s not already sitting on the table. In Thai restaurants overseas, however, you will probably have to ask for it, but they may not have it available. Many Thai restaurants omit these condiments to simplify things.
