Spicy Chilli Sauce

There I was, slouched languorously on a comfy armchair, and feeling listless at a children's (birthday) party. The other adults were either eating or engaged in chatter, but I was in the mood for neither. I think I had overeaten. So I picked up the folded stack of newspapers - untidy and ruffled - and gingerly flipped through its limp pages.

Not surprisingly, I paused when I came to the food section and zoomed in on the featured recipe - Roast Pork. But it was not the meat that I lusted after ... it was the sauce. The scarlet dipping sauce made me weak in the knees with its beckoning hue of red.

Quick as a wink, I grabbed a pen and scribbled down the ingredients and recipe on a scrap of paper, then slipped it into my handbag. I was going to make this sauce the moment I got home! My initial ennui evaporated instantly, and when the cheesy magic show began, I found myself laughing along with the children.



Recipe
(from The Straits Times, 6 June 2010)
Basic chilli sauce
- 10 fresh chillies
- 2 chilli padi aka bird's eye chilli (optional, if you want it really spicy)
- 2cm piece ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
- 60ml rice vinegar (I used 30ml rice vinegar + 20ml freshly squeezed lime juice)
Blend everything in a food processor till fine. Feel free to adjust the proportions of the ingredients according to your taste.

To make the dipping sauce for roast pork, add these to the above:
- 1 cube nan ru (南乳), aka red fermented beancurd (I added 2! Why not? It makes the sauce creamier!)
- 2 tsp preserving liquid from the nan ru (南乳)
- 2 tsp sugar
- Juice from 4 small calamansi (I omitted)
- 2 tsp mirin
- 2 tsp soy
- 2 tsp sesame oil