Vietnamese fish sauce dipping sauce (Nước chấm)

1. Warm the water and dissolve the sugar in it.

2. Pour in the fish sauce and freshly squeezed lime juice and stir.

3. Very finely chop or crush the garlic and slice the chillies thinly.

4. Stir the garlic and chilli into the sauce – if the sweetened lime liquid goes into the bowl first, the garlic and chilli float on the surface, which looks lovely.

5. Taste and adjust: more lime for sourer, more sugar for sweeter, more fish sauce for saltier.

6. Leave to stand for at least 10 minutes, then serve in small bowls; it keeps for a week in the fridge.

Tip: The "mother sauce" of Vietnamese cooking, served with almost every roll, grilled meat and noodle salad. A good nước chấm is salty, sweet, sour and hot at once – with no flavour overpowering the others.