Hainanese Chili Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2C finely chopped chile
1/3C finely chopped garlic
2tbsp finely chopped ginger
2tsp vegetable oil
2tbsp white sugar
1tsp salt
white vinegar (you’ll see the measure for that later)

Instructions:

Makes about 1 cup of chilli base.

To prepare your chiles, cut the tops off and chop them roughly. Pop them into a food processor and whiz away until it is chopped into bits about half to a quarter the size of a chocolate chip.

To prepare the garlic, pull the cloves off the bulb and skin them. Cut them in half lengthwise and pull out the thin core going down the centre. Pop them into a food processor and whiz away until it is chopped into bits about half to a quarter the size of a chocolate chip.

To prepare the ginger, peel the skin off with a teaspoon and chop into chunks. Pop them into a food processor and whiz away until it is a stringy paste.

Add the vegetable oil to a saucepan. Put the garlic, ginger and chile in and, over a medium heat, fry until they are fragrant and your eyes are watering from the fumes.

Add the sugar and salt and keep cooking over a medium heat until it is stirred through. Lower the heat and press the mixture down with your spoon to achieve a flattish surface.

Grab your bottle of vinegar and slowly pour it in until the level of liquid is just below the surface of the chilli mixture. Cook for about two minutes, stirring until the vinegar has evaporated slightly and the mixture has dried up to a loose paste (think pesto).

Taste a little bit of it. If it feels too sour, add a bit more sugar until the flavour feels right to you.

Transfer the chilli into a clean jar and store in the fridge or freezer.

From onebitemore.com