JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day


Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Chilli jam

This is terrific chilli jam, better than any I've made before. It takes moments to prepare, and then not quite an hour and a half to simmer before bottling. This is enough for nearly three Bonne Maman jars.

Blend 400g whole tomatoes, four chillies (seeds and all), six cloves of garlic, two small knobs of ginger (don't bother to peel them), & 30 ml of Thai fish sauce (half a little bottle). Put this in a saucepan with 450g ordinary sugar, and 8 tbsp red wine vinegar. Bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, finely chop another 400g tomatoes. Add them to the pan, and gently simmer for at least an hour, stirring occasionally. You have to judge for yourself when it's cooked, and it may well take longer than an hour to reach a set (it will set without trouble, because tomatoes are full of pectin).

I like this best of all with crab cakes, but it's also good stirred into pasta, in sandwiches, with cold meat.

6 comments:

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

How big is that bottle of Thai fish sauce? No particular kind, hot or mild chillies?
Do you run it through a food mill?
This looks so good!

Anonymous said...

Oh that sounds brilliant - I love chillies and had wondered how to make something like this!
x Elspeth

Joanna said...

Thanks for kind words, Elspeth. It's very good, I'm always making it (it's one of the very few things I'll make out of season) ... it's great with cream cheese, it's an essential part of peanutty noodles etc etc

Joanna

Anonymous said...

this actually caused a falling out in my family when I gave a jar to my sister and not my mum! I've had to make it five times now! Amazing!

Susan Heather said...

Just found your site via mousenotebook. I will definitely be returning to look through your delicious recipes.
I have lived in the north of New Zealand after coming out here from Surrey/Sussex in 1965.

Joanna said...

Susan thank you for kind words. The chilli jam is particularly good - and I've just found the identical recipe in Darina Allen's new prize-winning book Forgotten Skills

Joanna