- 3 partsFresh red chilli
- 2 partsGarlic + ginger
- 1 partLime juice
- 1 partChicken stock
- 6 long red chillies, roughly chopped
- 2-4 red bird's eye chillies, optional, for heat
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 thumb (20g) fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp lime juice (or calamansi juice)
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3-4 tbsp chicken poaching stock or water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- Put the chillies, garlic and ginger in a small blender or pound them in a mortar.
- Add the lime juice, sugar, salt and 2 tbsp stock and blend to a fairly smooth, bright paste.
- Add more stock a spoon at a time until it's spoonable but not watery.
- Stir in the sesame oil and taste: it should be hot, sour and a little salty. Adjust with lime or salt.
- Serve in small dishes next to poached chicken and rice. It's best within a day or two.
Every plate of Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia comes with three sauces: dark soy, ginger-spring onion oil and this bright orange-red chilli sauce. It's made by blending fresh red chillies with plenty of garlic and ginger, then sharpening it with lime and loosening it with chicken poaching stock. It's fresh, hot and sour, which is what cuts through the rich, silky chicken and rice.
It's runnier and fresher than sambal oelek and much sharper than sweet chilli sauce. Serve it with our ginger scallion oil for the full chicken rice set.
Poached chicken and chicken rice, roast pork, fried eggs, wontons and noodle soups.
It's the chilli sauce for Hainanese chicken rice and goes just as well with khao man gai or claypot chicken rice. For a gentler partner, add ginger scallion oil.
Uses this sauce
Recipes that call for this sauce. Make a batch and cook one of these.
Pairs well with
Dishes this sauce suits. These recipes make their own glaze or dressing, so you can swap this sauce in.