Last week-end we finally made it to West Dean Gardens, a place just 15 minutes from us and in the two years that we've lived here, we hadn't been there before ... wow! If you're anywhere in the West Sussex area, do stop by, it's beautiful, a lovely place for a walk and then a pit-stop at the coffee shop. Mind the wasps though, they are quite aggressive.
At the beginning of this year I had a brief intention of starting my own little vegetable patch, but that was before I sat down at that fateful sewing machine and never got up again. So I hang my head in shame at the planned vegetable patch that is now a weed garden, especially after having visited the Walled Kitchen Garden at West Dean. It is so beautiful that you immediately want to go and grow your own vegetables. Somehow though on the way out we got distracted at the coffee shop and the vegetable patch will have to wait a little longer now.
They run a few events during the year, one of them being the Chilli Festival and I never thought there were so many varieties in the world.
So on the subject of chilli, I leave you with the recipe for my favourite Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce - you should always have a jar of this in the fridge, it's delicious added to stir-fries, with cold meats or pretty much anything that requires a little bit of heat and sweetness.
SWEET CHILLI DIPPING SAUCE
Makes 200ml
250g large red chillies, trimmed
5 garlic cloves, trimmed an chopped
120g light brown sugar
3 teaspoons white wine vinegar
Combine everything in a pan with 150ml water, bring to the boil and simmer until soft. Blitz in the blender, add a bit of salt. Return to the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Cool and refrigerate, it will last for weeks in the fridge.
At the beginning of this year I had a brief intention of starting my own little vegetable patch, but that was before I sat down at that fateful sewing machine and never got up again. So I hang my head in shame at the planned vegetable patch that is now a weed garden, especially after having visited the Walled Kitchen Garden at West Dean. It is so beautiful that you immediately want to go and grow your own vegetables. Somehow though on the way out we got distracted at the coffee shop and the vegetable patch will have to wait a little longer now.
They run a few events during the year, one of them being the Chilli Festival and I never thought there were so many varieties in the world.
So on the subject of chilli, I leave you with the recipe for my favourite Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce - you should always have a jar of this in the fridge, it's delicious added to stir-fries, with cold meats or pretty much anything that requires a little bit of heat and sweetness.
SWEET CHILLI DIPPING SAUCE
Makes 200ml
250g large red chillies, trimmed
5 garlic cloves, trimmed an chopped
120g light brown sugar
3 teaspoons white wine vinegar
Combine everything in a pan with 150ml water, bring to the boil and simmer until soft. Blitz in the blender, add a bit of salt. Return to the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Cool and refrigerate, it will last for weeks in the fridge.
3 comments:
I LOVE sweet chilli sauce so am going to try this. Thanks!
mmmm gonna give that a go!! I went to the chilli fair a few years ago, it was brilliant, such an amazing place. Boyf had to go to the 'chilli relief tent' for yoghurt and milk after almost passing out!
SS - Hope you like it, it's sooo much better than the one you can find in the shops ....
Eb I like the idea of the 'chilli relief tent'. Typical men though, they think they can take the hottest ones and then ...
Post a Comment