Creamy Vietnamese Sauce

Author Notes

This is a cool twist on classic Vietnamese dipping sauce. My Vietnamese friend told me his mom adds sour cream to hers — I was intrigued, but I hate sour cream, so I used creme fraiche instead, which totally makes more sense anyway, given the French influence on Vietnamese food. It’s really good poured over mixed vegetables/meat over rice! By the way, I used a base recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, but you could do this to any dipping sauce recipe variation. —linzarella

Ingredients

• 
  ¹/₃ cup
  
  fish sauce
  
  
• 
  ¹/₄ cup
  
  warm water
  
  
• 
  3 tablespoons
  
  juice from 2 limes
  
  
• 
  2 tablespoons
  
  sugar
  
  
• 
  2
  
  fresh thai chiles, seeds and ribs removed, minced
  
  
• 
  1
  
  garlic clove, minced
  
  
• 
  ¹/₄ cup
  
  creme fraiche