I make - Sweet chilli sauce (or jam)

I love sweet chilli sauce. I use it for salad dressing, cooking and making dips. It's such a versatile sauce. I've been using Nigella's recipe for a long time and I can't believe I haven't written about it. Recently, I also tried a version with tomatoes. Both recipes are pretty good but Nigella's recipe is slightly simpler (and more precise) and the product looks prettier.

I like the fact that I can adjust the level of spiciness by playing the ratio between chilli peppers and bell peppers. Each time I make 4-6 jars and it lasts me for a year or two. They keep well in sterilized jars.

My Favorite Chilli Jam adapted from Nigella's recipe

150 grams long fresh red chilli peppers (deseeded and cut into 4 pieces)
150 grams red peppers (cored, deseeded and cut into rough chunks)
1 kilogram regular sugar, with 1 tsp of pectin added at the end
600 ml white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
4-6 garlic cloves, minced

Method

You will need 6 x 250ml / 1 cup sealable jars, with vinegar-proof lids, such as Kilner jars or re-usable pickle jars.

Wash your jars and dry them at 120C in the oven for 20 minutes.

This is Nigella's method with food processor: Put the cut-up chillies into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the chunks of red pepper and pulse again until you have a vibrantly red-flecked processor bowl.
Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a wide, medium-sized pan over a low heat without stirring.
Scrape the chilli-pepper mixture out of the bowl and add to the pan.

This is the method I use without a food processor: Put roughly chopped peppers, garlics and salt in a pot along with the vinegar. Use an immersion blender to blitz up everything. Add in (regular) sugar and heat the pot over a low heat until sugar is dissolved (no more grittiness when scraping the bottom of the pot with a spatula/spoon). 

After dissolving all sugar, bring the pan to the boil, then leave it at a rollicking boil for 10 minutes. When I use regular sugar (no pectin added), I like to reduce the mixture by at least a third, usually by half. If you reduce the mixture by half, it should be quite thick and jelly like without adding pectin. I, however, still add a teaspoon of pectin at this stage to be on the safe side.

Take the pan off the heat and allow it cool. The liquid will become more syrupy, then from syrup to viscous and from viscous to jelly-like as it cools.

After about 40 minutes, or once the red flecks are more or less evenly dispersed in the jelly (as the liquid firms up, the hints of chilli and pepper start being suspended in it rather than floating on it), ladle into your jars. If you want to stir gently at this stage, it will do no harm. Then seal tightly.

Thane Prince's Chilli Pepper Jam

Ingredients
5 red peppers
8 red chillies
1.25kg granulated sugar
360ml white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
225g canned chopped tomatoes
125g liquid pectin

Method
To clean the jars, preheat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas 1. Wash the jars well in warm soapy water then rinse thoroughly under running water. Leave the jars and lids to dry, upside down, in the oven. (Or you can clean the jars by putting them through the hot cycle of a dishwasher.)

Place a clean plate in the freezer to chill. This will be used to test if the cooked jam has reached setting point.

For the jam, cut the peppers and chillies in half, then remove the seeds and white membranes (keep the white membranes of the chillies if you want more spicy heat). Either chop the peppers and chillies finely by hand or, alternatively, roughly chop them, then place in a food processor and pulse to chop finely.

Place the chopped chillies and peppers into a wide, deep saucepan with the sugar, vinegar and tomatoes. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.

Bring the mixture to a rolling boil for 7-10 minutes to reduce the liquid by a half. Remove from the heat and stir in the pectin. Return the pan to the heat and boil for another couple of minutes.

To test if the jam has reached setting point spoon a little onto the chilled plate. Leave for a moment, then push the edge of the jam with your finger - if the jam is ready the surface will wrinkle as you push.

Once the jam has reached setting point, let it cool for five minutes before potting into the sterilised jars. The jam will keep in the sealed jar for up to six months.

Tasting Note: The sourness is not as sharp as in Nigella's recipe, a milder chilli jam. I prefer the sourness sharper in my sweet chilli jam. 

2018 weekly - Week 33

12/08/2018

The heatwave may truly be gone, after two months of relentless high mercury level. We had rain twice this weekend. Good for everyone, not just plants.

I made fragrant chili oil today. I enjoy the sensation from chili but not the numbness it brings to my tongue. Most chili sauce/oil from Chinese grocery stores are too spicy for me to enjoy the chili fragrance. So I made my own today with Gochugaru (korean chili flakes), just mildly spicy but mightily aromatic.

Not-Spicy Chili Oil

- 1 cup of korean coarse chili flakes (gochugaru, go for the mildest version if you have to choose)
- 1/2 tablespoon of ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of Chinese 5-spice
- 1.5 teaspoons of table salt
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of stock powder (optional)
- 1.5 tablespoons of coarsely ground Szechuan peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon of minced ginger
- 2 green onions, minced
- 1.5 cup of neutral tasting oil (I used canola)

To stir in towards in the end
- 3 tablespoons of garlic granules
- 2 tablespoons of fried shallots or dried onion flakes
- 2 tablespoons of white sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Mix chili flakes, white pepper, 5-spice, salt, sugar and stock powder if using in a bowl and set aside.

In a 14/16-cm round pot, heat the oil with Szechuan peppercorns and minced ginger on medium-low heat. Heat the oil gently so that it brings out the spice aroma without darkening. When the bubbling noise turns low (meaning the ginger moisture almost gone), add in green onions. Stir and make sure you don't burn the green onions. When the splattering noise has quietened again, stir in the chili mixture. Stir a few times to combine and remove from the heat. Mix in garlic granules, fried shallots or dried onion flakes and sesame seeds. Let the mixture cool to body temperature and stir in the sesame oil.

Bottle the chili sauce in sterilized jars. I got two Bonne Maman jars plus a few table spoons extra.

Microwave dried rosemary

My friend, let me tell you, it's a revelation.

It all started with pruning our rosemary bush on one Sunday afternoon. I ended up with an armful  of rosemary branches after fierce pruning. Rosemary is a lovely herb, smelling so fresh and clean. I can't just compost those branches. So I consulted with Dr Google for a way to preserve herb. It seems that drying by oven and by microwave are two popular options.

Being a scientist at heart, I decided to try both. I shook the rosemary branches a few times to rid of bugs and dust. Then I washed the rosemary cuttings and towel dried the rosemary. I set the oven at 100C and sent in my rosemary on a baking sheet lined with paper towel. I kept the door ajar for steam to come out and also to keep the temperature not exceeding 100C. Half an hour later, my rosemary needles have become dark. They were not burned but dark and not even dry. Sad face.

Then I decided to try microwave. I lined the microwave rotating plate with two layers of paper towels and put washed and towel dried rosemary on top. I started with one minute at full power. Stopped the microwave, opened the door to let the steam escape (and wiped away any condensation) and check how dry my rosemary was. Then I repeated the same process a few times, until my rosemary needles became brittle. That's a sign when they are fully dry.

And look at the color of the final product, my friend. I am ecstatic! You wouldn't tell the rosemary is dry just by looking at it, as the microwave method keeps the rosemary bright green color so well. Now I know what to do with my garden herb!