Sabzi’s CHILLI JAM

Sabzi’s sweet chilli jam began as a one-off – we had a glut of chillis to work through one day in the kitchen and the next thing we knew we were standing over a steaming pan of sweet and spicy jam that would become a firm favourite with our team and customers alike. 

Over the last few years it has established itself as a mainstay in a number of dishes at Sabzi; drenching freshly roasted potatoes before being layered with pickled peppers and sharp, salty feta, silkily coating a pea salsa packed with edamame, chopped coriander, diced red onion and roasted peppers, or rubbed into steamed bulgur wheat with pickled onions, toasted seeds, and massaged Cornish kale and cavalo nero. 

Of course it is delightful in a sandwich or as a dip too – in fact this sweet chilli jam has many uses so I’d recommend making a big batch or else you might find yourself standing over that hot, fragrant saucepan rather regularly….once you start enjoying this jam, it’s hard to stop!

Ingredients

Makes approx. 1litre

• 1 small red onion

• 2-3 red chillies depending on how hot you like it, and how hot your chillies are!

• 50g fresh ginger

• 3 cloves garlic

• 50ml apple cider vinegar/rice wine vinegar

• ½ carton apple/pineapple juice depending on preference

• 150g light brown sugar

• 1 tsp cornflour

• Flaky seasalt and black pepper to taste

Method

Finely dice red onions

Pulse your red chillis, ginger (peeled), and raw garlic in a food processor until finely chopped (of course you can do this by hand if preferred)

Put the onions, blended aromats and fruit juice into a pan and bring to a gentle simmer.

Once these have all softened, add the sugar and vinegar and simmer for 20 minutes before tasting for balance. You can increase sugar or vinegar at this point to achieve your preferred flavour.

To thicken, mix cornflour into a couple of tsps of cold water until smooth and stir into jam.

Allow to simmer until thickened and then check your flavour once more before leaving to cool.