Made From Scratch: Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce in 20 Minutes!

Ever thought of making gifts to give to friends but not sure what to make? Perhaps they're not a fan of baked goods. If they like spicy, then this home made Thai sweet chilli sauce will be their best friend. The sauce is very close to the bought variety but made fresh and with the glut of summer chillies that we seem to be having. And since you can buy chillies by the bagful for a steal, it's a good way to use them up and preserve them (and I never seem to use them in a timely enough manner).

Even though I adore the man, getting Mr NQN to help with chores is often...well, it's a chore in itself. Our conversation last night went like this:

Me: "Can you please take out the garbage?"

Mr NQN: "Maybe..."

Me: "Come on... I'm busy making chilli sauce and the garbage is overflowing"

Mr NQN: "Okay, but I've got lots to do tonight."

Me: "Like what?"

Mr NQN: "I've  got to take out the garbage, iron my shirt, brush my teeth, have a shower and go to bed."

Me: "It's 7pm. I think you can achieve that by bed time..."

You can adjust the heat to taste and it takes about twenty minutes from beginning to end. And I'm sure that Mr NQN could have added this in his roster of things to do that evening and still had time to spare ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like making edible gifts for friends? And do you like receiving them?

Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce

Preparation time: 2-5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

• 1 cup white sugar*

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled

• 2 Jalapeno chillies or you can do a mix of 1 Jalapeno and 2 Thai Birds Eye Chillies

• 1.5 tablespoons cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water

**Note on chillies: the heat is in the chilli seeds and it all depends on your preference. I removed the seeds from the Thai birds eye chillies but left the seeds in the jalapenos which made a medium hot chilli sauce. **

*You can use less sugar although this recipe is just like the bought version which is quite sweet and sticky.

Step 1 - Chop the garlic and wearing gloves, de-seed and chop the chillies depending on how hot you want the sauce (see note above). In a saucepan place the sugar, water, rice wine vinegar and chillies. Bring to a boil and place on a rapid simmer on medium to high heat for 10 minutes.

Step 2 -  Knock the heat down to low so that there are only a few bubbles and stir the cornflour and water mix (the cornflour tends to settle if you mix it ahead of time) until it thickens. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then process in a food processor (use one where the lid has a vent and cover it with a teatowel). Decant into a sterilised* jar or bottle.

*To sterilise jars or bottles, place the jar or bottle and lid (make sure it's oven-proof) on a tray in a 180C/350F oven for 10 minutes. Handle with care as they will be hot.