Sweet chilli ginger sauce

Sally created this recipe out of necessity whilst living overseas in Massachusetts during the late 90s. Sweet chilli sauce was not on any supermarket shelf so this sweet chilli ginger sauce recipe was born. The ginger gives it a different twist.

Sweet chilli ginger sauce Credit: Petrina Tinslay

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  35 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 200 g long red chillies, whole, stalks trimmed
• 2–3 red bird’s-eye chillies, whole, stalks trimmed (add as few or as many of these as you like depending on how hot you would like your sauce)
• 5 cm piece ginger, peeled, roughly chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce

Makes approximately 2½ cups

Level of heat medium

Instructions

Combine the 2 different types of chillies, ginger and garlic in the bowl of a small food processor and process until finely chopped.

Combine the sugar and vinegar in a saucepan over a low heat and stir without boiling until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the chilli, garlic and ginger paste to the sugar syrup and simmer for 25–30 minutes until thickened. Add the fish sauce and simmer for a further 1–2 minutes. Pour into sterilised bottles and when cool store in the refrigerator for up 6 months.

the food dept. fact

• Serve as a delicious dipping sauce for your favourite yum cha or Vietnamese rolls. You can also drizzle it over chargrilled chicken or prawns, then sprinkle with coriander leaves and squeeze over fresh lime juice – YUM.

Photography by Petrina Tinslay, styling by David Morgan and art direction by Anne Marie Cummins.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.