Things to do with chillies: 2) Sweet chilli sauce

Seeing as I have a surplus of chillies this year, I'm thinking up interesting things to do with them ...



Be aware this takes a couple of hours and requires quite a bit of stirring. Also be aware that this will likely smell quite strongly of vinegar until relatively near the end - don't be put off, it tastes great

• Add to a large pan: 600g caster sugar, 250mls red wine vinegar, 8 rough chopped peppers (I used a mix of red, orange and yellow here), 5-8 cloves finely chopped garlic (don't worry, this isn't overpowering at all), ~1cm finely grated ginger, 400g (1 tin) cherry or plum tomatoes, and finely chopped chillies according to preference. As a rough guide, I used 1 Scotch bonnet, 6 green finger chillies and 6 nondescript red ones from the bowl in the picture.
• Season with all or none of the following: salt and pepper, a bit of (decent) vegetable stock, English mustard, chilli powder and paprika. I used all of the above.

This should look something like this:

• Use a hand blender to whiz this to get rid of the large lumps of pepper - some largish ones are fine, as they reduce down anyway. If you don't have a hand blender, use a separate food processor and just add the pepper + chilli mix now.

This should look something like this:

• Turn on the heat and simmer down - this is likely to take 1-2 hours. Take care to stir regularly to prevent anything sticking. If you don't stir it fairly frequently (especially towards the end), then with 600g sugar in there it's likely to spit when you do stir it. You have been warned.
• Stop reducing when you reach the desired consistency / when you get bored. As a rough guide, you need to be able to almost draw in the mix with your spoon.
• Sterilise some bottles / jars in the oven / microwave / with boiling water, taking care not to crack the glass. This recipe makes about 750mls, so make sure you've got enough containers. Decant, seal and allow to cool. This should keep fine in the cupboard but will last longer in the fridge. Either way, once opened, keep in the fridge. If there's anything suspicious growing in it, or if it smells strange, don't eat it!

... Just so you know, the mix is likely to set quite firmly in the pan if you leave it there and the pan is still warm, so I'd advise washing it as soon as you're done ...



Other things to do with chillies: 1) Hot sauce.

cheers, been looking for a sweet chilli recipe. Love the stuff on my noodles

Looks great!
Requesting a picture of your garden of chillies though