Chillis were on special at the shops this weekend, and all sorts were available – long red ones, bird’s eye, Scotch bonnets, Jalapenos, green chillis and more. I bought a heap of long, red chillis and set to work making sweet chilli sauce. My recipe is based on one from an old Donna Hay cookbook, but I add lots more chilli. It has a decent kick (or, Kung pow!!, as my daughter put it) and I was really glad I didn’t include the seeds, but the flavour is really yummy, and much better than the store bought variety. It goes well brushed onto simply grilled chicken, and as a dipping sauce for Vietnamese vegetable roll-ups or spring rolls. There’s also always the option to pour some over a block of cream cheese and smear on crackers – a truly Australian use of this Asian sauce!
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
16 long, red chillis, de-seeded and sliced finely
2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
a good pinch of sea salt
Place all the ingredients in a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes until the chillis are soft and jewel-like and the sauce sticky. Pour into a sterilised bottle and store in the fridge.
Simple food 