Chicken Rice Chilli Sauce (with garlic and shallot)

Although there are many commercial chilli sauces available, nothing beats the taste of a freshly made sauce such as this one. It can be kept in the fridge for up to a month.

Preparation: 15 mins

Ingredients (makes 225g)
° 100g (6-8) fresh red chilli, seeded and halved
° 1-2 fresh red chilli padi (optional)
° 25g ginger, coarsely chopped
° 25g garlic, coarsely chopped
° 75g shallot, coarsely chopped
° 2 tablespoons white rice vinegar or distilled white vinegar
° 5 tablespoons (6-8 limes) freshly squeezed kalamansi lime juice
° 1-2 teaspoons sugar
° ½ teaspoon salt
° 1 teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)

Method
1. Puree the chill, ginger, garlic and shallot in a blender or food processor until it is smooth.
2. Transfer the mixture to a glass container, add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt and cooking wine. Mix well and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Tip
1. Serve with light soy sauce if desired. Dilute with water or lemon juice if the chilli sauce is too thick upon serving. Stock can be added to make it tasty.
2. Do not add any chilli padi if a milder flavour is preferred.
3. Cooking rice wine is added if chilli sauce is to be kept for more than a week to a month. Cooking wine, by definition, is a very inexpensive wine that has been treated with salt as a preservative.
4. To prepare fresh chilli, rinse them under water and cut them lengthways. Remove and discard the seeds using a knife.