This is REALLY good! So far, we’ve used it on a simple green salad with mango and raw fennel and on grilled shrimp and grilled pineapple. All were delicious! Thank you.

I’m a follower of y’all’s and Cambodian, so had to comment – my parents are from Cambodia and I grew up eating and cooking Cambodian food my entire life. I have also visited twice. I don’t think your recipe is far off at all and probably achieves a similar flavor profile!

We actually just call this “fish sauce” (direct translation) – which is also what the stuff straight out of the bottle is called. It’s used interchangeably, but people just know which you’re talking about (dipping sauce or bottle) depending on the context. It’s similar to Vietnamese fish sauce; they use the term “ngoc mam” to mean both.

We would also boil the water and sugar first (essentially a simple syrup) before mixing everything else in just to ensure the sugar is fully dissolved.

I don’t *typically* see shallot, but definitely garlic! But we do use shallot in our cooking so it’s not too far out there and I’m sure it’s been used before.

As far as I know, we don’t use a lot of dried chili flakes in our cooking. Chilis would maybe be sun-dried or more commonly transformed into a paste. Perhaps in a pinch, chili flakes could be used as a substitute. For less spice (I admit I have a more mild American palette), I just use less bird’s eye (Thai) chili.

Finally, there are variations of it that are also yummy! We often add crushed peanuts straight into the sauce for a little crunch mixed in.

We also make a version that has ginger added blitzed into it that goes great with poultry and seafood. I make it with all the time with chicken rice, another dish you should try since you like southeast Asian food if you haven’t already. Very similar to the more popularized Hainanese chicken rice, the same roots due to cultural migration, etc.

Sorry for the long comment, just excited to see the mention of Cambodian on such a large platform lol