Homemade nyonya chili sauce (辣椒醬)

 

This homemade nyonya chilli garlic sauce is easy to prepare and is used especially for serving with Hainanese chicken rice or as a dipping sauce for meat, fish and rice and noodles. This version is spicy, sourish and slightly sweet.   

Ingredients 

1 kilo red chillies
200 gm garlic

4 tbsp sugar or more depending on your taste.
1 tbsp tomato ketchup (this helps to keep the sauce for up to 6 months)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp salt

Wash, remove the stems and cut the chillies lengthwise.

Remove the seeds and white piths of chillies to lessen the spiciness.

Cut the chillies and garlic into thumb-sized pieces.

Put some water into the bottom of the blender.
Add the chillies and garlic.

Blend until it is a smooth paste.

Transfer the paste to a pot.
Add the sugar, lemon juice and tomato ketchup.

Cook over a slow fire and stir constantly so that the liquid can dry out.

Once the liquid has dried up, turn off the fire and set aside to cool down.

 Pour into clean and dry glass jars and store in the fridge.
Always use a clean dry spoon to scoop the sauce.