these recipes!
Sweet Chilli Sambal
My friend and talented chef, Jeremy Hammond-Chambers, taught me how to make a sweet chilli sambal and I’ve been hooked ever since. Sambal is a condiment usually made with chillies—lots of chillies. I’m not a big blow-off-your-tongue spice gal, so I like using very mild chillies. This recipe is definitely a favorite of everyone who tried it. In fact, I make a massive batch of Sweet Chilli Sambal, can several jars and give them away as presents.
MAKES 4 CUPS (1 LITER)
1/2 cup (125 ml) hot water
1 walnut-sized piece of tamarind pulp or 1 heaping tablespoon tamarind paste (also called “concentrate”)
1 lb (500 g) sweet chillies, roughly chopped
2 onions, each chopped into 8 pieces
8 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) cooking oil
1/4 cup (40 g) palm or light brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 If you’re using tamarind pulp, combine the hot water and tamarind pulp in a bowl. Smash the tamarind pulp with a fork to dissolve as much as of it as you can. Let sit for 10 minutes. Discard the pulp, keeping the tamarind water.
2 Process the onions, chillies and garlic in a food processor with the oil until a rough pastelike texture is reached. Place the paste in a non-reactive pan over very low heat and cook for approximately 1 hour stirring the mixture regularly to make sure it does not stick or burn. Add the tamarind water or concentrate, palm sugar and fish sauce and cook further until the mixture becomes sticky, thick, salty and sweet, about 1 hour. At this point the oil should have fully separated from the paste and will be sitting on the top. Cool and store in refrigerator.
TIP: The general rule is the larger and fatter the chilli, the milder it will be. At the market, look for chillies that are labeled “sweet” or “stuffing” chillies. If you enjoy the flavor but no spice, then feel free to use red bell pepper as a substitute.
Asian Flavored Salts
Creating a flavored salt is the simplest way to add a dash of Asian flavors to anything you serve. They make fab gifts too—just bottle each flavor in a jar and give as a set. Try to use good salt—sea salt is best, followed by kosher, but I would steer clear of regular table salt. Use flavored salt in any way that you want—in place of regular salt or as a finishing salt to sprinkle on just before serving. It’s great on steamed vegetables.
Sichuan Peppercorn Salt
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn
3 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt
In a dry, heavy-bottomed frying pan, toast the Sichuan peppercorn over medium-low heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Let cool and grind to a coarse powder in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Combine with sea salt. In addition to a lovely dipping salt, your house will smell wonderfully aromatic all day.
Citrus-Ginger Salt
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange and/ or lemon rind
2 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt
Preheat the oven to 200 ° F (95 ° C). Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread out the grated ginger and citrus on the paper. Bake for 30 minutes, or until completely dry. Combine with the salt.
Vietnamese Pho Salt
2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
3 whole cloves or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 small star anise
1/4 cinnamon stick or 1 dash of ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt
In a dry frying pan over medium-low heat, toast the spices until fragrant, about 3 minutes. In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind the toasted spices to a coarse powder. Combine with the salt.
Ginger Scallion
Here’s proof that you don’t need to add ingredients to a wok to fry. If you pour hot cooking oil over herbs or aromatics, the heat of the oil will “pow” or flash-fry the ingredients, releasing its aromas, and natural oils while keeping them bright and fresh. This is my magic condiment, transforming a plain, poached chicken into an explosion of vibrant flavors. I also use it for any steamed or fried fish … and sometimes I even just mix it in plain rice! It’s important that you use a medium heatproof dish to pour the hot oil in. The oil will sizzle a bit, so you want some room in the bowl. Plastic and thin glass are not good options as they will melt or shatter! You can make the sauce in a small pot if you don’t have a heavy heatproof dish. I suggest that you chop up all the ingredients for this sauce and have them ready for “powing” just before serving.
MAKES 1/ 3 CUP (80 ML)
2 green onions, minced
1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (see Jaden’s Ginger Tips, page 33)
1/2 teaspoon minced red chillies
1/4 teaspoon rice vinegar
Generous pinch of salt
1/3 cup (80 ml) high-heat cooking oil
In a heatproof dish, combine the green onions, garlic, ginger, chillies, rice vinegar and salt. Mix and set aside. In a wok, heat up the oil. When the oil is hot and just starting to smoke, carefully pour the hot oil into the heatproof dish on top of the ingredients. It will sizzle—please be careful!
Apricot Sweet Chilli Sauce
My kids love this for dipping Mom’s Famous Crispy Eggrolls (page 50), Firecracker Shrimp (page 48), Vietnamese Summer Rolls (page 44).
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP (250 ML)
1/2 cup (125 ml) apricot marmalade
1/2 cup (125 ml) sweet chilli sauce
In a bowl, mix the ingredients together. If sauce is too thick, thin with 1 tablespoon of water.
Vietnamese Dip
The quality of your fish sauce has everything to do with this sauce, known as nuoc cham in Vietnamese. Look for tea-colored fish sauce. This dipping sauce is perfect for Vietnamese Summer Rolls (page
