A friend at work recently loaned me her copy of Annabel Langbein the Free Range Cook, and one of the first recipes that I stumbled on that I just had to try was the Chilli Jam.
As luck would have it I had all the necessary ingredients on hand - red chillies, ginger, garlic, limes, kaffir lime leaves, rice vinegar - so I was good to go.
This is an absolute doddle to make. The garlic, chillies, ginger and kaffir lime leaves are blitzed up in the food processor for a moment or two until you get a coarse paste. The paste is then added to a saucepan with water, sugar, lime zest, rice vinegar, soy sauce and fish sauce. All of which is then brought up to the boil, and then allowed to boil for about 10 minutes until reduced and "jammy". Lastly the finished jam is poured into sterilised jars.
The finished "jam" carries a bit of warmth from the chillies and ginger, but being balanced out by the sugar is not excessively hot by any stretch of the imagination, and gets a good bit of "zing" from the lime.
Annabel suggests this as making a great dip for vegetable crudites, or tossing chicken pieces in the jam before baking. I think shrimp would be great bathed in this jam before cooking and serving on some rice, and I think a good dollop would also be a wonderful accompaniment to corn fritters (or any other kind of fritter, actually). It also tastes incredibly good just devoured by the spoonful straight from the jar!!
As I didn't make any changes to the recipe whatsoever, I'm not going to post it here, but direct you to Annabel's website where you can find the recipe here.
The Free Range Cook is a great book for busy cooks - simple recipes, with minimal ingredients, and with a strong emphasis on using fresh, seasonal, local produce - now that's my kind of book.
I am sharing this Chilli Jam at Cookbook Sundays, where my friends are delving into their cookbooks and sharing their recipes. Hope you'll stop by and see what they've been cooking this week - maybe you'll even feel inspired to link up a recipe from one of your own cookbooks.
I'm also sharing this at See Ya In The Gumbo hosted by my friend, Michelle, at Ms. enPlace and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollum.
jam looks flavourful delicious
ReplyDeleteThanks - it is very delicious. I'm thinking it would also be great with char-grilled vegetables.
DeleteI have my own favourite chilli jam recipe, but I have to say this one looks gorgeous! I will have to try it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Foodycat - hope you enjoy it :-)
DeleteI was looking for a good chilli jam recipe last weekend to make for a birthday picnic lunch and couldn't find one. Thanks so much for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteDeb
Thanks Debby - this would definitely be a great addition to a picnic lunch. Hope you give this a try.
DeleteThanks for stopping by - I hope you visit again.
Sue, that looks delicious and so versatile.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Clare. I think you and Cliff would really enjoy this. Would be nice with some cheeses and some of your home-made crackers too :-)
DeleteLovely post Sue! I love the free range cook - I actually tried making this last year, but it was early in my jam-making career and I didn't reduce it enough so I have a kind of sweet chilli sauce which is performing well as a dip :) Will have to re-try it as a jam again!
ReplyDeleteThe Free Range Cook is a really useful book to have in your collection isn't it.
DeleteMine doesn't have a really firm "jam set" either - more of a soft "conserve set" - which does make it perfect for dipping. And in fact that is really how Annabel recommends it be used, so I think yours was probably fine.
I actually used some the other night to make Chilli Lime Mussels - post to come.
Sounds perfect, just what winter needs and chilli jam pick me up!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alli - yes, all those bright zingy flavours, and the lovely colour definitely make a great pick-me-up at this time of year.
DeleteThis looks so good, Sue! I made Chili Jam twice, but none has ginger in it, I would definitely love this! Yum!
ReplyDeleteJoyce, the ginger in this really adds some depth of flavour & warmth - its a great addition and I think you would really like it.
ReplyDeleteI love this! My grandpa used to make hot pepper jelly, which I loved. Thank you for linking your jam this week--I'm happy to be introduced to it. Sorry I missed Cookbook Sundays. The week got away from me in a bad way. I'm sad I missed the last one.
ReplyDeleteLove that stuff a friend gave me a jar & it barely lasted a few days....I really must make a batch.
ReplyDeleteYour jam was one of the most-viewed links from last week's See Ya In the Gumbo and is being featured this week. Thanks again for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAlso thanks for the link on bananas. I've seen salads using banana flowers that are served using the red bracts as "bowls." Very pretty, but I've never eaten them!
So, I tried this recipe you so vigorously promoted on this post and, while I think I may have botched it a bit, it turned out wonderfully hot :). Thanks for the tip.
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