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Introduction

Everyone loves a good sambal, dip or sauce. These condiments can be prepared in advance and kept in the refrigerator for later use, as is done by many experienced cooks. A good sambal or dip makes a wonderful gift to your loved ones during festive seasons. This book offers a variety of recipes for sambals, dips and marinades, as well as recipes and tips on how to use them.

To prepare spice pastes, the method is basically the same whether you're using a traditional mortar and pestle or a food processor (If using a processor, you'll need to add a little oil or liquid to keep the blades turning). Slice or chop all the ingredients into smaller pieces, then grind the toughest ingredients first, adding softer and wetter ingredients toward the end. For example,first grind any dried spices or nuts until fine. Then add harder ingredients like lemongrass and galangal,and process until fine. Then add softer ingredients like ginger and chillies. Lastly, grind ingredients full of moisture, like shallots, garlic and belachan.

Sambals are usually cooked, hence they keep longer than dips. The most important ingredient in a sambal is the chilli. Always use fresh, red chillies to create delicious and attractive sambals.

Dips should not be kept for many days—in fact, most of them must be served immediately. They are also not suitable for freezing.

Fruit-based marinades tenderise and flavour many different types of foods. Oil-based marinades penetrate quickly and add a delicious flavour to seafood and meats. Seafood should not be marinated for too long as this toughens the flesh—half an hour of marination should suffice. Meats are best marinated for at least 4 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Spice pastes can be frozen for up to 3 months. Try using them with different foods,for example Red Thai Curry Paste can also be used to season stir-fried noodle dishes.

There are recipes for savoury and sweet sauces in this book too. Some savoury sauces can also be used as a marinade,for example Black Peppercorn Sauce can be used to marinate beef before roasting. The sweet sauces at the end of this book will appeal to dessert lovers. They can be made in advance and kept chilled until needed.