Caramelised Chilli, Garlic & Lime Dressing

This is a beautiful, caramelised sugar dressing for Thai inspired salads. I used to make a lovely caramelised palm sugar Thai dressing years ago and this is a simpler (and so good!) version of that, that was given to me by a fellow cook. The sugar is melted first until it turns into a lovely amber caramel, then diced garlic and fresh chilli are added and cooked off for a bit. Finish it off by pouring in lime juice and it all comes together to make a really delicious, pungent, sweet and sour dressing which can also be used as a dipping sauce.

If you have had trouble caramelising sugar and water before (hand up) this sugar is caramelised from dry (without added water) which is a lot easier. This recipe makes only one cup but you really don’t need a lot on a single salad as it can be quite hot. Drizzling too much on will wet the lettuce too much and for the same reason it’s also best to drizzle it over just before serving. I usually drizzle one teaspoon around the plate and then two teaspoons over the salad.

I hope you give this recipe a try it’s really delicious. 🙂

 

INGREDIENTS

1 fresh red chilli pepper (medium-sized)
5 small garlic cloves (3 large, 4 medium)
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup lime juice (fresh or bottled. If using fresh you will need approx 9 medium-sized limes)

 

Makes x 1 cup – You can easily halve or even quarter this recipe but just know the sugar will caramelise a lot quicker so you’ll need to keep a keen eye on it.

 

Notes

• Melted sugar is hotter than boiling water so please don’t make this around the kids and just be very careful!….I’d hate it if you got burned when making one of my recipes. 🙁
• The bought lime juice that I sometimes use just doesn’t seem as strong as freshly squeezed limes so if you are using bought I recommend tasting the dressing after you’ve made it with the 3/4 cup of juice and then if you feel it’s a bit sweet and could be a bit tarter, add more juice (I would add no more than a further 1/4 cup).
• If you haven’t caramelised dry sugar before and might be a bit nervous my advice would be to practice on 1/4 cup first. 🙂

 

WALKTHROUGH

First prepare the chilli and the garlic.

Remove the stem from the chili and using a sharp knife cut it lengthways through the centre. Use your knife to scrape out the seeds (it’s okay if you miss a few) and then slice it thinly into long strips. Line all of the strips up together and finely slice them up into tiny pieces. You can then use a large chef’s knife to dice them up more finely if you like. 🙂

Next peel and finely dice up the garlic and set it aside with the chilli.

Next squeeze the juice from the limes and leave it aside also.

To begin the ‘scary’ part…..place the sugar In a medium-sized heavy bottomed pan.

Leave it over a medium/low heat.

Just leave it to do it’s thing……it will start to melt around the edges (mine started after a minute).

Just as the melted bits start to turn an amber colour drag those bits into the centre with your spoon.

Keep watching and as more of it turns amber, drag it into the centre.

• Dragging it in moves it and stops it from going dark brown and burning, which will turn the flavour of the sugar from sweet to bitter so in turn will give you a bitter dressing…..we don’t want that!

Just continue dragging any amber bits around the edges into the centre…..but do not stir the sugar, it may crystallise.

• Try not to drag any in unless it has changed colour or you will be moving it around unnecessarily and moving it around too much could cause it to crystallise or be quite lumpy later on…..try to be patient.

It will start to look a bit ‘messy’ but that’s okay.

…..still keeping a close eye…..

When two thirds of it has melted you can very gently start to stir it and also crush any lumps with the end of your spoon to speed things up a bit…..

…..until it has all melted (mine took around 6 minutes total caramelising time).

It’s such a gorgeous colour!

As soon as all the sugar has melted and whilst still over the heat, quickly add the chilli and the garlic and…..

…..stir them in for 30 seconds.

Then add the lime juice.

Turn the heat up to medium/high and stirring often bring it to the boil.

If it is lump free, it’s all done but if there are still some lumps turn the heat down to medium/low again and still stirring it, let it softly boil it until it is.

• Sometimes I have the odd stubborn lump of sugar that just won’t dissolve, I just give up and remove it.

Let it cool before pouring into a sterilised glass jar (you can use the dishwasher for this) and because of the high sugar content it will keep in the fridge for up to 30 days.

If you’d like to try my Thai Beef Salad Recipe….it’s here!