THAI SWEET CHILLI SAUCE
This is a classic sweet chilli sauce that goes especially well with anything fried. I pretty much use this in place of ketchup; it’s brilliant with chips or fried eggs, and surprisingly good stirred into mayonnaise.
Makes 500ml
- 250g large red chillies
- 350ml white rice vinegar
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 300g caster sugar
- Halve and deseed the chillies, then roughly chop them. You can leave some whole if you want a spicier sauce. Blitz in a food processor with half the rice vinegar and the garlic until you get a fine but chunky purée.
- Combine the garlic and chilli purée with the remaining rice vinegar and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then, once boiling, turn the heat to medium so that it simmers steadily. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Cook until the mixture thickens slightly, about 40–45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour the sauce into hot sterilized jars and seal. This will keep for months on the shelf. Alternatively, let cool and pour into a more convenient squeezy bottle. This will still keep for up to a month in the fridge.
Variations:
Mango sweet chilli sauce: Add a small handful of finely chopped mango to the sauce as it’s simmering. You can also play around with other sweet fruit.
Mint and jalapeño green sweet chilli sauce: Replace the red chillies with green jalapeños. Do note that these can be quite spicy, so adjust the amount accordingly. Add a handful of finely chopped mint to the sauce towards the end for a refreshing twist.
