Goong pad nam prik pao is a stir-fry of shrimp, oyster mushrooms, and long beans glazed with a nam prik pao-infused sauce. If you’ve got a jar of savory-sweet nam prik pao (Thai chile jam) kicking around your refrigerator, you’re in luck, since the dish comes together in under thirty minutes. If you don’t have nam prik pao in your refrigerator, well, you should; it’s a versatile roasted chile paste that can be used as a condiment, much as you would any other chile paste, and it’s also used in quick, delicious stir-fries like this one.
Although nam prik pao is already sour, sweet, and salty and packs a punch, it requires a bit more seasoning when using it as a sauce. For this dish, I use Thai oyster sauce and Thai light soy sauce to amplify nam prik pao’s savory and salty notes, coupled with a touch of tamarind paste and sugar to round things out. I also give the nam prik pao some assistance from fresh ingredients. Since it already contains dried shrimp and roasted shallots, garlic, and chiles, I add their fresh counterparts to intensify the dish’s overall flavor.
