Nam Prik Pao

4 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoon chopped garlic
3 tablespoon chopped shallots
3 tablespoon coarsely chopped dried red chiles
1 tablespoon fermented shrimp paste
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons of sugar
heat the oil: add the garlic and shallots and fry briefly, remove from
the oil and set aside. Add the chilies and fry until they start to
change colour, then remove them and set them aside.

In a mortar and pestle pound the shrimp paste, add the chiles, garlic
and shallots, blending each in before adding the next. Then over low
heat return all the ingredients to the oil, and fold into a uniform
paste.

The resulting thick, slightly oily red/black sauce will keep almost
indefinitely. If you wish you can add more fish sauce and/or sugar to
get the flavour you want.