recipes & articles from head chef patron Sebby Holmes, owner of award winning Thai restaurant Farang London (2024)

In Thailand I have come across a range of delicious chilli jam recipes, the two key types of chilli jam that I have seen most commonly used are grilled or deep-fried. For this dish I have chosen the latter, as it works as a rich base for this amazing stir-fry. Morning glory FYI is referring to the Thai vegetable, that is similar to spinach in flavour and grows along the riverbeds in Thailand.

Deep-fried chilli jam, ‘nahm prik pao’ is an amazing product, it can be let out with stock or coconut cream to create rich salad dressings, glazes, sauces, garnishes for soups or as a dip. However, it is not the easiest thing to make. It involves a lengthy, yet simple process of slicing, frying, drying and then combining with palm sugar, tamarind and fish sauce. To get the best results you need to cook the deep-fries individually as each vegetable cooks at a different rate. Knife skills are quite essential for this one, or to cheat you can slice the vegetables using a mandolin or buy them pre-fried from an Asian supermarket, however bear in mind that fresh is always best. Bare in mind I say chilli jam as a Farang, this is because to me its the best way to describe what the condiment is. However, nahm prik pao could also be describes as a sweet and savoury chilli paste, not too dissimilar to an XO sauce.

The key to making an excellent deep-fried chilli jam comes in the consistency of the deep-fried ingredients. Every ingredient needs to be sliced wafer thin in order for them to cook at an even rate. A light golden crisp on the garlic, shallots, ginger, chillies and prawns comes together to create a rich, smoky, spicy base for the chilli jam. It is incredibly important to have a sharp knife in order to slice these ingredients thin enough. Slicing and cooking deep fries is a difficult game to get right as each stage takes a long time. Bear in mind that it can also go epically wrong at any moment if the oil gets too hot. – The last thing that you want is to burn your deep-fries (or fry your hands).

Although it takes a little effort to get the chilli jam made, you will certainly be pleased to have it in the kitchen. The palm sugar and oil act as a preservative, giving the jam a longer shelf life so its worth the effort as it can sit in the fridge for literally years. I use free-range, corn fed smoked chicken from our awesome supplier ‘Swaledale Foods’ in Yorkshire because I’m a posh bastard and its bloody delicious, but you can use any chicken you like and a smokiness is added naturally to the dish when it is cooked on a high heat in the wok.

Most of the ingredients that are included in this recipe can be sourced from a bog standard supermarket these days, if you’re struggling, pop into your local oriental supermarket, or the Farang Larder, alternatively you can buy online. There are so many banging recipes using this condiment which I’ll make sure to explore in the future on the site because I’ll be honest- I bloody love it, if I could run myself on a nahm prik pao IV drip then I would be doing it right now.

(Serves 2, takes 1 ½ hours, with plenty of spare jam)

Ingredients

For the chilli jam

200g banana shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
200g garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 knob of ginger, peeled and julienned
100g dried long red chillies
50g, dried prawns
2 tspn gapi paste (fermented shrimp paste),
roasted in tin foil on low heat until smelly
60g palm sugar, roughly chopped
100ml fish sauce
100ml tamarind water (buy in packs and soak yourself)
1 litre cooking oil

For the stir-fry salad

2 chicken breasts, roughly chopped
40g green beans, topped & tailed, halfed
40g basil, washed and picked
40g green mango, peeled and julienned
40g ong choi (morning glory), roughly chopped
2 pinch deep-fried garlic
2 pinch deep-fried shallot
20g coriander, washed and picked
200ml chicken stock
1 fresh long red chilli, thinly sliced into chilli’os
1 pinch caster sugar
1 pinch ground white peppercorns

Method

1. Begin by deep-frying your chilli jam ingredients. Start with the shallots as these have the highest moister content and therefore take the longest to complete. To do this, heat the oil to a high heat in a large wok (to test that the oil is hot enough for frying drop a few shallots into the oil – if they float and bubble it is ready). Using a fork stir the shallots in the oil making sure they cook evenly, careful as they like to colour faster around the edges of the pan so will need to be stirred. When they are golden brown remove from the hot oil and drain on kitchen paper. To ensure no deep-fries are stuck together, pick them apart using two forks. Repeat this process with the garlic, ginger, dried prawns and the dried red chillies (bare in mind that the red chillies and prawns take less time as they have a low moister content).

2. Once all the deep-fries are cooked take a pinch of crispy garlic and shallots and put them to one side for a garnish later. Using a food processor or hand blender combine all the deep-fried ingredients with half the oil that was used for cooking (be sure to let the oil cool before using as this is the most soul destroying point to burn all your hard work). Once combined place on a low heat and add the palm sugar and fish sauce. Keep stirring until the sugar caramelises, causing the jam to thicken and clump together. Lastly remove and add the tamarind water – the mixture should be sweet, salty, sour and hot, the magic is in the balance, if it doesn’t taste delicious you’re not magic enough.

3. Now that the chilli jam is made its time for the easy bit, making the stir-fry. In a hot wok heat a little of the excess oil from deep-frying (this can be kept as fragrant oil to cook with in the future, its far superior to using plain oil for any cooking). Throw in the chicken and wok until browned on the outside and hot throughout. Next throw in the green beans and morning glory and toss in the juices, then add the chicken stock. Once hot, add a heaped tablespoon of the fried chilli jam and toss. This will create a thick, flavoursome sauce that coats the stir-fry. Finish by adding the caster sugar and white pepper, then remove from the heat.

4. Now for the cold ingredients. Toss through the basil, coriander and fresh red chilli and place on a plate. Finally garnish with the green mango, a little deep-fried shallot and garlic, then enjoy.

Thanks for reading and I hope you like the recipe, please do let me know your comments if you cook it up, (unless you don’t like it of course in which case feel free to bugger off). Hopefully I’ll see you in Farang soon for a bite.

Cheers,

Sebby Holmes