Name: Sweet Chilli Sauce
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 13 min
Ingredients: 5 large red chillies; 125 ml (½ cup) water; 100 g (3½ oz) white sugar; 4 Tbsp Chinese Rice vinegar or ordinary clear vinegar; pinch of salt

Sweet Chilli Sauce is one of those ubiquitous sauces sold in bottles or jars as either Chinese or Thai. It is what it say – sweet and not spicy, so the chillies used are usually the milder variety. But of course, that doesn’t mean that you can’t make it sweet and spicy!

When I was growing up in Singapore, this was often served as a dip with savoury snacks in the afternoons. It’s still one of my favourite nostalgic indulgences. Fantastic as a dip with spring rolls and prawn crackers but also makes a great base or topping for little canapés. See the Amuse-Bouche and Canapés page for ideas.