Nam Phrik

Instructions

1. Soak 1 tbsp of dried shrimp in warm water for 10 minutes to soften, then drain and squeeze dry. Meanwhile wrap 1 tbsp of shrimp paste in a small square of foil, flattening it into a thin cake, and toast it in a dry frying pan over medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side, until the kitchen smells strongly of it and the paste is dry and smoky. Unwrap and let it cool a little.
2. In the same dry pan over medium heat, toast 3 cloves garlic cloves, 1 shallot and 4 bird's eye chillies for 2 minutes, turning, until blistered in patches and sweet-smelling. This softens the raw bite; leave them raw if you want the relish sharper.
3. Put the garlic, shallot and chillies in a granite mortar with a pinch of salt and pound with the pestle for about 1 minute, to a coarse, still-flecked paste, not a purée. Add the drained dried shrimp and pound another minute until fluffy and broken down, then work in 2 tsp of palm sugar until it dissolves into the paste.
4. Add the toasted shrimp paste and pound and stir it through until the relish is a uniform greyish-brown. Season with 2 tsp of fish sauce and 1.5 tbsp of lime juice, stirring rather than pounding now, so the sauce stays loose and spoonable.