Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce

 I had quite a few of these Joe's Long Cayenne chillis to use up.  The wonderful thing about growing this variety is the sheer volume of chillis produced on each plant.  These chillis didn't get quite enough light or heat this growing year so they are not super hot, but just warm enough to keep the cold out!  I thought I would share this Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce recipe.

 1" of peeled and chopped ginger root, 1 small red pepper, 1/2 cup white or cider vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tabs fish sauce, 2 tabs sherry, 3 cloves garlic, 1 tab cornflour.  I used about this quantity of chillis as shown in the picture, but you can estimate by volume how much you want to use.
That's what the recipe said, but you can substitute fish sauce for light soy sauce, sherry for something like madeira or port, I used jam sugar for just a little extra pectin.  I also used arrowroot instead of cornflour for thickening.

 A food processor or chopper is really necessary to chop the chilli, ginger, garlic and pepper quite finely. I used some of the fish sauce to help it blend smoothly.

 Add the vinegar, sugar and other liquids and bring to a gentle boil for about 5 mins, stirring just to gently cook through the peppers and chilli.  Thin the cornflour with a little cold water and then add gradually to the chilli mix until you get the thickness you desire.  I prefer it to still pour out of the bottle, but you may prefer a thicker set like jelly or jam - its up to you.
    Pour into sterilized jars, close the top lightly and then steam the bottles in a bath of simmering water with the lid on for another 30 minutes in a large saucepan and then tighten up the lids before cooling.  This will help sterilize the sauce so it keeps for much longer.

This quantity only makes about 2 or 3 small jars, so you can double up the ingredients for more. Experiment with different types of chilli, this one isn't as hot as it might be but it is perfect for me.