The sweet chilli jam is a perfect accompaniment to the Thai flavours in the chicken cakes.
Ingredients
- sunflower oil, for greasing
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- 500 g minced chicken
- 2 tsp peeled and finely chopped or grated root ginger
- 4 spring onions (trimmed and finely sliced)
- 1 clove of garlic (peeled and crushed)
- 1 tblsp roughly chopped coriander
- 0.5 red chilli (de-seeded and finely chopped)
- 75 g fresh white breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 2 tblsp fish sauce (nam pla)
- salt and ground black pepper
- 100 ml sweet chilli jam (see below), to serve
- for the sweet chilli jam (makes 1 x 400g (14oz) j a r):
- 25 g root ginger (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 3 cloves of garlic (peeled)
- 2 red chillies (de-seeded)
- 2 tblsp fish sauce (nam pla)
- 375 g tomatoes or cherry tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
- 200 g caster sugar
- 75 ml sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6), and oil a baking tray with sunflower oil.
- Prepare the lemongrass by peeling off the outer layer and finely chopping the inside of the stalk. Place all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix to combine.
- Wet your hands then shape the mixture into 20 balls each about 2cm (3/4 in) in diameter. Transfer these to the prepared baking tray and lightly flatten to form small patties.
- Place in the oven and cook for 10–12 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove from the oven and serve with the sweet chilli jam.
- For the Sweet Chilli Jam:
- Put the ginger, garlic, chillies and fish sauce into a blender (or use a hand-held blender) and whiz to a purée. Place the purée in a saucepan with the tomatoes, sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring regularly, for 8–10 minutes or until thick and jam-like in consistency.
- Place in a sterilised jar, cover with a lid and allow to cool, or pour straight into a bowl to cool, if serving with the Thai Chicken Cakes..
Notes
This recipe and many more are available in Rachel's book, 'Rachel Allen: Entertaining at Home', published by Harper Collins
