Two Thai Hot Sauces.

If you make it with the chilies known in Thailand as prik chi fa daeng and sometimes called the Thai jalapeno (daeng simply means the red variety), the result is a mild sweet sauce. If you cannot find the finger sized Thai peppers, you could easily substitute Mexican jalapenos. If you make it with prik ki nu (mouse-dropping chilies, or 'Thai hots'), then the sauce will have a hot bite to it. In this form I prefer it made with green chilies, but on aesthetic grounds you could easily use red chilies. If Thai chilies aren't available, then you could substitute habaneros or Scotch Bonnet chilies. These sauces are made commercially by a small factory near our home, and these recipes are simple enough to keep the prices down and minimize the need for labor or expensive equipment. Pickled garlic can be purchased in most Asian grocers, or you can make your own using the simple method explained here. Using pickled garlic and chilies mellows the flavors. Also in this case the sauce is thinned with the pickling liquor used for pickling the chilies, and this gives it an extended shelf life. However, if you intend to consume it rapidly, then you could substitute tamarind juice, which has a slightly more complex flavor. Method: A week before you intend to make the sauce you must prepare the pickled ingredients. If you are making the sweet sauce, then de-stem your chilies (prik chi fa daeng), and split them in half lengthwise, and discard the seeds; chop coarsely until you have a cup of chopped chili; lace it in a 1-pint preserving jar; and fill the jar with rice vinegar. Cap and keep for at least a week. If you are making the hot variety, you will find it too tedious to dispose of the seeds, so simply de-stem, chop the chilies, and pickle in the same way. Next prepare your kratiem dong (pickled garlic). You make up a pickling liquor consisting of 2 cups of rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of palm sugar, and half a teaspoon of MSG (this latter is optional but recommended). Peel your garlic, slice it, then three quarters fill a preserving jar, and fill it up with the pickling liquor. Keep in a cool place for a week. The sauce is then made with the following ingredients: 10 parts drained pickled chili 5 parts palm sugar 3 parts vinegar (use the liquor that pickled the chilies) 2 parts drained pickled garlic These are placed in a liquidiser (blender) or food processor and processed to a sauce-consistency. Bottle in a well sealed container. It will keep for about 6 weeks. If you make it using tamarind juice instead of vinegar at the final stage, then consume within a week and keep refrigerated.