How to Make My Ultimate Hot and Sweet Chilli Garlic Ginger Jam

I am slightly addicted to chilli and eat it on as many foods as possible.  This is a spicy and sweet chilli jam with garlic and ginger.  I think it has a bit of a spicy kick but it is not mouth burning, and you can still taste all the individual flavours.  You can make it less hot by deseeding or using a milder chilli.  I hope you enjoy. This makes a great gift - especially good for the Christmas/holiday season :) I love this sauce on noodles or rice dishes - but it's also great in a cheese sandwich! It's also good to add into pasta sauces or stews while cooking to add a little chilli hit to your recipes. 

ingredients:

225g chilli peppers (I used small green Thai/finger chillies but any would work - you can de-seed them if you want but I did not as wanted the extra heat)
400g red/bell pepper - cleaned, deseeded and roughly chopped
600g onion - chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1.5kg sugar
750ml white/red wine vinegar (cider vinegar is also good)
50g ginger
1 head garlic - cloves peeled
1 tbs sea salt



preparation time: 20 minutes
cooking time:  45-60 minutes (depending on pan size/heat)

• clean your peppers and chillies well and destalk the chillies - you may want to wear rubber gloves while doing this to protect your hands - and remember don't touch any sensitive body parts after handling chillies!!!!!!
• add the cleaned and prepared chillies, peppers, onions, garlic and ginger to a large pan with the vinegar and salt and blend with a hand blender (or in an electric blender before putting in the pan if you don't have one) until well mixed together - keep your eyes out of the way as any splashes would be very painful!

• add the sugar, stir with a wooden spoon and bring to a rolling boil for about 45-60 minutes until thickened and the wooden spoon leaves a trail when stirred in the bottom on the pan
• skim off any 'scum' that rises to the surface

 

• while the jam is boiling away sterilize your jars (when you have about 30 minutes to go).  You will need enough jars for about 1500 -1750ml of finished product. (I used a combination of 1/2 litre kilner jars and small preserving jars with lids)
• you can use your preferred method of sterilization but what I did was cleaned jars and lids well in very hot soapy water, rinsed in clean, hot running water, then put on baking trays in an oven preheated to 180C for 25-30 minutes. 

• when the jars are sterilized and the jam is cooked, carefully add the jam to the prepared jars - remember you must add hot jam to the hot jars - otherwise the end product will not be sterilized and also the jars may crack. Seal the jars immediately and leave to cool before storing in a cool, dark place. 
• the jam is ready to eat the next day but will also keep for at least 1 month unopened.  Once opened store in the fridge. 
• I hope you enjoy - let me know how you get on......

You can check out my other recipes on http://chipbuttiesandnoodlesoup.blogspot.co.uk/