Having lived many years in Asia, I have always adored Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce. It is delicious with a myriad of things. It is, however, chock full of sugar. Technically, you could describe sweet chilli sauce as a concoction of sugar with chilli and water - hardly healthy, and totally verboten on the Budwig Protocol. It forced me back into the kitchen to try and devise something that was equally delicious but healthy too.
I came up with this. It is made of sweet red peppers with chilli to give the kick, but does not use sugar to it pad out. The raw honey is full of nutrients and does not impart a flavour of honey.
The sauce is absolutely delicious as a dip for simply fried strips of organic chicken breast, spooned over a simple piece of sautéd cod, or as an addition to any Asian dish. But be careful, raw honey should not be heated, so use this as a dip not as an ingredient in a heated Asian dish. If you wish to use it in cooking then substitute the honey with date syrup or xylitol, but be aware date syrup will change the final colour.
The idea behind all of these recipes is that they are not a treat, but part of your diet. They add vitamins and nutrients, so that nothing you put into you body actually does harm – unless in this case you are allergic to the ‘nightshade’ vegetables, i.e. chilli and peppers.
I use a small sauce ‘food processor’, which is great to use to make small quantities of sauces and pesto. This is not an expensive item, but one that makes life a lot easier than trying to make a small amount in a standard food processor. But a stick blender will also work well as long as you use the tall beaker supplied with the better brands.
I have not been able always to adequately source organic Thai Birdseye chilli. So, please ensure you wash them thoroughly with a vegetable wash to remove any chemical residue from the skins. Birdseye Thai chilli imparts a perfect sharp heat to this dish, but use as many or as few to your taste. Roasting the red pepper concentrates the sugars, adding a natural sweetness to the sauce.
This sauce is perfectly fine made just before use, but like many vegetable dishes, it really does taste better after sitting for 24 hours in a fridge.
RECIPE
3 - 6 birds eye Thai red chilli, roughly chopped (to taste).
2 large organic red peppers
2 - 4 cloves organic garlic (to taste)
4 tbs organic extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs raw organic cider vinegar
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
2 tbs raw organic honey, I use Latin Honey Shop’s* Raw Avocado Honey
** 1 cup of Healing Intent.
1. Cut the red peppers in half, place on a baking tray and roast at 180C for 40 minutes. Don’t over char these peppers, you want them soft with the skins easy to peel. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes or so.
2. Peel and deseed the red peppers, cut into chunks and place in a small food processor. Add the other ingredients and blitz until smooth.
3. Keep any leftovers in the fridge for 2 – 3 weeks.
* www.latinhoneyshop.com An online supplier of gorgeous raw and organic honeys. My favourite is the Raw Avocado Honey as it is less sweet, almost caramel in flavour without the top floral notes of many commercial honeys. It is perfect for this sauce. Blog post featuring this honey will be included in a later post.
** Healing Intent: when cooking foods to heal the body and promote wellness, it is important to set your intent. The best way to do this is imagine that you are cooking this dish for yourself or for someone you love who is very ill and that this dish is the only thing that will help in their healing. You will find that the way you handle the food will change, and will not only result in a better dish, but you will feel that the food actually nourishes your body and spirit. As time progresses, you will notice more and more when food is not cooked with love and healing intent. It will feel different in the body.