Name: Chilli Paste
Yield: Makes about 3 cups of paste.
Ingredients: 1 cup tamarind pulp, mixed with 1½ cups hot water then pushed through a sieve; 3 tablespoons chilli powder; ½ cup fish sauce; 1½ cups diced red onion; 1¼ cups sliced garlic; 6 tablespoons dried shrimp, pounded; 1 cup palm sugar; 2 cups peanut oil

Preparation info

Makes about
3 cups

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Simply Asian

By Neil Perry

Published 2000

About

This versatile paste is easy to make and, once you have a taste for it, addiction soon follows. Chilli paste is used in soups such as Thai tom yum, and is cooked with coconut cream and coconut milk as a sauce for seafood. It also makes a delicious salad dressing.

Timing is everything here: If the ingredients are fried for too long, they burn; not long enough, and the sauce is insipid. Remember, fortune favours the brave!