Chilli Jam

This is the secret to seriously good thai food, it’s a David Thompson recipe. You can use it noodles, soups, rice dishes, anything! It’ll seem a bit weird when you’re making it, and it smells very strong once finished… but in small doses in the right dishes it is AMAZING. It keeps forever in the fridge so it’s worth the investment to make a batch.

You’ll need

• 4 cups red shallots
• 2 cups garlic (chopped thinly and longways)
• 1/2 cup dried prawns, rinse and dried (once fried pound them up in morter and pestle before adding them to the blender)
• 1 cup dried long red chilli deseeded and chopped
• 10 slices of galangal
• 1 tsp shrimp paste

Fry each of these up separately then put in the blender. Blend until smooth. Once you’ve done this, put it back in the frying pan along with the shrimp paste and fry until it’s smelling fragrant. Then add…

1 cup palm sugar
1/2 cup thick tamarind water
1/2 cup fish sauce

Simmer until it forms a thick jam. Put in the fridge, it will last you quite a while.