Step 1

Note: If making a large amount you can put everything into a blender and blend just until there are no big chunks but don't make it silky smooth.

Step 2

Pound the garlic, chilies and cilantro stems into a paste.

Step 3

Add the palm sugar and pound until the sugar has turned into a paste. If using Thai chili paste or shrimp paste, add it now and use the pestle to mash it up and mix it into the herbs. Add the lime juice and fish sauce and/or pla ra and swirl the pestle or whisk until well combined.

Step 4

If using coconut milk, simply stir it in now.

Step 5

First combine the finely chopped palm sugar with the lime juice and fish sauce and stir until the sugar has mostly dissolved; set aside. Don’t worry about the last few stubborn bits for now, they will soften as they sit in the liquid.

Step 6

Grate the garlic with a microplane or use a garlic press to make a paste and add to a small mixing bowl. Mince the chilies and the cilantro stems as finely as you can, then add to the garlic. If using chili paste or shrimp paste, add to the garlic mixture and stir to mix and loosen the chili paste.

Step 7

Back to the fish sauce mixture, if there are any undissolved lumps of palm sugar, you should now be able to smash them down with the back of a spoon. Once all is dissolved, add to the garlic mixture and stir to combine. Tip: If you’re using chili paste, it will help to add just a splash of the liquid seasoning first, then stir to dissolve the chili paste before adding the rest.

Step 8

If using coconut milk or plara, simply stir it in at the end - you don’t want to add these ingredients in the beginning as it’ll make it hard to see any undissolved lumps of sugar.