Thai Three-Flavoured Sauce

A wonderful sauce that does well with fish.

(Makes 1 1/2 cups)

40 g red chilies (about 20 bird’s eye chilies or 3 large red jalapeño peppers), finely chopped
40 g peeled garlic (about 10 large cloves), finely chopped
40 g peeled shallots (2 large), finely chopped
20 g finely chopped coriander roots or stems (about 1/2 cup, packed)
(The above ingredients can be pulsed to a coarse paste in a food processor.)
150 g palm sugar, chopped (about 1 cup, packed)
4 fluid ounces water (1/2 cup)
70 g brown sugar (1/3 cup, packed)
2.5 fluid ounces fish sauce (1/3 cup)
2.5 fluid ounces tamarind pulp (1/3 cup), prepared exactly as instructed here.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a medium saucepan, fry the garlic-shallot-coriander-chili paste in the vegetable oil over medium-high heat just until fragrant.
Add the remaining ingredients to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat to maintain a simmer.
Reduce the sauce down to about 1 1/2 cups; remove from heat. The sauce will thicken up slightly upon cooling.

Serve over fish fillets or deep-fried whole fish, garnished with coriander leaves and finely sliced spring onions, (optional) fried shallots, fried garlic.