"Musashi" > wrote in message
m...
> I was given a bottle of Thai "sweet chili sauce". The label says Mae Ploy.
> The ingrediens list sugar, water,pickled red chilli,garlic.
> The taste isn't bad but it is terribly sweet.
> Unfortunately I'm not fond of anything very sweet.
> Kind of reminds me of the bright red sweet and sour pork available at
cheap
> Chinese takeouts.
> So....how shall I use this sauce, since I've now brilliantly opened the
> bottle.
> Any suggestions appreciated.Thank you.
> M

Mae Ploy is the brand name, it's from Thailand & i'm sure Nick's Jun can
confirm that. It's a fairly common sweet chilli sauce for dipping anything
like wontons, spring rolls etc. etc. It's also a fairly easy sauce to make,
it consists of finely chopped red chillis although i like to pound mine up
to a paste, then add sugar, vinegar & gently simmer till it reaches a sticky
consistency. You can of course google for the recipe & make it less sweet. A
trick is to add a little salt to cut back the sweetness & bring back the
sourness of the vinegar, do this gently on the simmer. Once you've learnt
how to make it.... you won't bother with any of the branded ones.

A good way of using up & getting rid of the bottle is to add it to any
recipes/cooking that requires both sugar & chilli or a dish that has a
slight 'tart' sharpness to it. Add it towards the end of the cooking &
hopefully it won't be that sweet for you. The alternative is to get your
wok/frypan smoking hot with oil, add large amounts of the sauce & caramelise
the sauce till thick w/o burning it then add vegs & water/stock to finish of
your sweet & sour or spicy sweet & sour. This is how some Chinese
takeaways/takeouts use to do it before they had the ready made gloopy sauces
you find today.

DC.

DC.