The dip you posted sounds fab. I love Asian food and have a huge file of Asian recipes. I especially love their dips....makes even the simplest dish into a meal. I came across this just the other day.
Chile Jam (Homemade Habanero Sauce)
Nice glaze over chicken breasts, or, if you're brave, spread on toast as Asians do. Uses red Habanero (spiciest chile ever), red Thai chiles, small roasted red bell pepper to temper the heat. The jam will taste better if sealed jar steeps a week before opening. Fridge/consume in the next couple of weeks.
METHOD Proc/pulse roughly 10 pulses 1/2 lb washed chili peppers, roasted red pepper, cup of pint apple cider vinegar, 1/4 tea salt. Transfer to pan. Add 6 c sugar, rest of pint vinegar. BTB; Cook/stir 10 min w/ wooden spoon. Add 6 oz liquid pectin. BTB, then simmer on med-low 2 min til syrupy.
That sounds good! Yes, the condiments are one of the great aspects of Asian food.
One Southeast Asian dish I’ve just never warmed-up to, however, is Pho. I happened to eat in a Pho place today, and ordered Pad Thai instead - which wasn’t that good, either; but all the great sauces certainly helped!
I first had Pho a couple of years ago, when I’d been very ill with the ‘flu and hadn’t eaten much for days. I woke up on a Saturday, still in the throes but starving, and said to the Husband Unit: take me somewhere and Feed Me.
It was a cold winter day, and given my condition we decided it would be salutary to try Pho for the first time. We went to a little nearby place we’d been wanting to try. It wasn’t that bad, but I wasn’t crazy about it; and I was so stuffed-up I probably didn’t really smell it or taste it.
Today, in good health, I couldn’t stand the sight of the dish, or the smell of it, as my lunch companion lustily ate.
So many people rave about Pho, that I’m wondering if I have just been going to lousy Pho places(?)
-JT