Here’s the result of my latest experiments in the kitchen, dear friends; after having tried it a few times in restaurants, this magical bottle has become the new star in my larder: sweet chili sauce.
I’ve been combining it with other elements of East Asian cuisine, and I’ve worked out the ingredients for a really scrumptious sweet-and-savoury sauce that goes very nicely with both chicken and pork; my favourites are chicken drumsticks, though – juicy and tasty with all their lovely skin on.
For the sauce, I use pointed sweet red peppers (either Spanish Ramiro peppers or Greek Florina peppers), they’re a very good substitute for sweet chilies which are more difficult to get.
Ingredients for 2 are:
4 chicken drumsticks, ½ onion, 1 celery stick, ½ sweet pointed red pepper, 1 tomato, 50-60g pineapple chunks (tinned), 100ml sweet chili sauce, 50ml passata, 1-2 tsp honey, salt, pepper, chili flakes, sugar, olive oil
Wash the drumsticks, dry, roll in flour on a plate, season with salt and pepper and put in a frying pan with hot oil; fry for 5-6 minutes from both sides until golden brown, then turn down the heat and simmer with the lid on for 20-25 minutes; add water if necessary.
Meanwhile, for the side dish, cook some rice, noodles or pasta.
Slice the celery, chop the onion, pepper and tomato, fry in another pan with hot olive oil for 2-3 minutes, then add the pineapple chunks, fry for another 2-3 minutes until they start to soften.
Then, add the chili sauce, passata, honey, salt, sugar and chili flakes; keep frying for 10-15 minutes until the sauce is going gooey and the vegetables are getting soft; add a little water if necessary.
Serve with the side dish of your choice; it’ll transfer you all the way to East Asia, I promise!
Roberta Franklin 