Sometimes in Italy I need to take a break from Italian food as you can tell from this blog. I love all ethnic foods: Asian, Mexican, Indian, Middle Eastern and the list goes on. But I find myself limited on the ingredients I can find here in Italy. So desperate times call for desperate actions! I make my own!
This recipe is for Sweet Chili Sauce, it is a Thai Condiment called nam chim kai. In Thailand and in much of the world, it is used as a dipping sauce, marinade or stirfry. I started off with ambitious plans, like to make egg rolls and cream cheese wontons so I could dip them in the delicious sweet chili sauce.
But while I was wearing myself out making egg rolls and wontons, my husband comes around the corner with a bag of rice crisps (a fried chip that is readily available here in Italy) and he dips into my cream cheese and sweet chili sauce and a new favorite snack was born! Why wear myself out making wontons when I could just dip this rice chip into cream cheese and sweet chili sauce!
I brought this “cream cheese -rice chip-sweet chili sauce” Combo to the beach one day and it was a hit. One Italian asked me for the recipe! High praise indeed!
Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup white (clear) vinegar
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and minced finely
- 1 garlic clove, minced finely
- 2 teaspoons red hot chili flakes (peperoncino)
- 1 Tablespoon Sriracha (Asian hot sauce) or if you don’t have it try a Tablespoon of Ketchup or tomato sauce)
Instructions:
Place all ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring to combine. Turn off heat and allow to cool, keep in the refrigerator.
