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Sauce

Spicy Chilli

A blended chili sauce made with fresh chilies, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, and optional soy sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lime and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,491 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Spicy Chilli

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove seeds from chilies to tone down the spiciness.

  2. Blend all ingredients.

Season and store

  1. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  2. Add additional sugar and lime juice before serving if you like it less spicy.

  3. Keep in a bottle.

  4. Chill if possible.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

230Calories
27 gProtein
1 gFat
31 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Shrimp100g cooked99
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,491 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Shallot + limetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together258 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Garlic + limetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,411 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Birds eye chilis
Provide the heat and the main chili flavor of the sauce.
Shallots
Add savory sweetness and aromatic body when blended.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma and savory depth to the blended base.
Dried shrimp paste
Adds a deep savory, umami note in place of fish sauce.
Lime juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the heat.
Sugar
Balances the heat and acidity with sweetness.

The step that matters

Remove seeds from chilies. Seeds and the pale membrane hold much of the capsaicin, so removing them lowers the heat. Wear gloves and avoid touching your eyes, since capsaicin irritates skin and mucous membranes.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, shrimp, fish sauce, lime, sugar, pepper, sauce):

  1. Corianderfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, shrimp, fish sauce, lime, sugar, pepper, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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