My sister will be surprised when she sees this. I have always berated her love of the shop-bought stuff. But when I read Diana Henry’s introduction I was intrigued:
“So much better than anything you can buy. It doesn’t have that cloying flavour of commercial bottles, but barks at you with biting, fresh taste.”
This led me to the list of ingredients, which looked very promising. And she is right, it is so much better than the shop bought version. Indeed, it might as well be another sauce.
The recipe is from Salt, Sugar, Smoke: How to Preserve Fruit, Vegetables, Meat and Fish, a lovely book full of recipes, tips and techniques for the home preserver. “I am a home cook” writes Henry, “I don’t have masses of special equipment and I don’t do things on a grand scale.” Her style is approachable and encouraging, showing that preserving isn’t just for “elderly ladies in floral pinnies or country-based downsizers with a vehicle big enough to transport several dead animals.”
I made this first to use up some chillies which my flatmate, Jen, had grown on our kitchen windowsill. I liked it so much I decided to make it for Christmas presents in place of my usual jams or chutneys.
Be careful to check the heat of your chillies; I underestimated the heat of Jen’s homegrown chillies the first time round. This is not supposed to be really hot, so unless you have mild chillies I suggest you deseed all of them, keep the seeds and add them later if you want a bit more kick.
I decided not to use coriander because Jen doesn’t like it and she grew the chillies. I love coriander, but it worked fine without and I liked that it looked more like the shop-bought version than it would have done with flecks of green; all the more pleasant a surprise when people try it.
When I made the first batch I found that the consistency was a bit too thick, like honey, so I added some boiling water to thin it out a bit. Next time I added too much water and it was too thin so I just boiled it down until it was the right consistency.
This recipe fills one 500g jar and Henry advises that “Refrigerated, it lasts almost indefinitely."
Ingredients
6 large fresh red chillies, 3 of them deseeded, roughly chopped
5cm (2in) square piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
Finely grated zest of 3 limes and juice of 2
12 garlic cloves, peeled
1 large bunch of coriander leaves
300g (10 ½ oz) granulated sugar
50ml (2 fl oz) Thai fish sauce
120ml (4 fl oz) white wine vinegar
Method
Puree the chillies, ginger, lime zest and juice, garlic and coriander in a food processor to a paste.
Put the sugar into a heavy-based pan with 6 tbsp of water and place on a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil until the syrup becomes a caramel colour. Stir in the paste, fish sauce and vinegar – the caramel will split so be careful – and simmer for two minutes. Leave to cool. Pour into a sterilized jar and seal with a vinegar-proof lid. When cool, refrigerate.
