Monday, June 22, 2009

Asian Super Spicy Chilli Paste


My Reiki guru Jairam is a master of many many arts, cooking being one of them. He particularly loves spicy food and there are a few pastes and masala powders which he makes in large quantities at a time and stores in the pantry. When it comes to sharing knowledge he's the most generous person I've met and sometimes recipes are a part of the many things we learn from him. A few weeks ago he made onion dosa for me and served his special chilli paste on the side. A teeny little drop of the paste came a long way because of the really strong flavors and high spice content. After I'd licked up the paste and told him how yummy it was he shared his recipe with me. And then, the following week when I went to visit him, he gave me 200 grams of the special super-spicy red Bellary chillies which he uses in his paste and encouraged me to make some in my own style. I used the basic method for making the paste but used a slightly different mix of ingredients to give the paste a marked Asian flavor.

chilli paste pic1
Asian Super Spicy Chilli Paste

Ingredients

100 gms Dry Red chillies (the spiciest you can find)
1/2 inch ginger chopped
1/2 C chopped garlic
1 T soy sauce
1 T tamarind paste
1 T jaggery or brown sugar or molasses
3 T olive oil
a pinch Ajinomoto (MSG) - optional
salt

Remove the twigs and clean the red chillies (warning: this causes a lot of sneezing).

Heat 1 T of the olive oil and lightly fry the garlic and ginger.

Bring water to boil in a large pot.
Add chillies, cover and turn off the heat.
Leave for 2 minutes and drain off the water.

Blend all the ingredients (except the remaining 2 T olive oil) into a paste.
Add olive oil and blend once more.

Allow to cool to room temperature.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Could be used in cooking or served on the side as a dip.


chilli paste pic2

1 comment:

  1. Oooh, that sounds delicious! It would be great on a stir fry :)

    ReplyDelete