Chilies

If you grew up with a mom such as mine then chilies were a part of your daily life. And not always in the gastronomical sense either, but rather the threat of sticking them in your mouth if you said more bad words. Despite that childhood trauma, I have come to love chilies, a little at a time, a lot at a time, with or without seeds and all the colours possible. They add the most amazing dimension to your food and today I'd like to make a sweet chili sauce with the chilies from my garden (grown by me from seeds from other chilies used!).

You will need about 500g of chilies, 3 cloves of garlic, 3 cups of white vinegar and 3 cups of castor sugar. (scale these numbers up or down as you wish). Take about 100g of chilies and place in food processor (with seeds) while you need to de-seed the rest (use more or less of the seeds depending on how strong you want your sauce to be). Blend everything in a food processor, add the vinegar and sugar and boil on a high heat for five minutes and then simmer until the sauce thickens. If you notice that the sauce is too tick (upon cooling), stir in some hot water to thin it out a bit. Pour into sterilized containers (an original sweet chili bottle makes it look more authentic).
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