Chilli Chuka is a raw, garlicky, gingery and tart chilli condiment that’s eaten as a dip and also like a sambal.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
What’s in a Name?
- chilli = the British spelling of chili pepper, chile pepper, however you spell it in your part of the world.
- chuka = vinegar
So the literal translation of chilli chuka is vinegar chilli, or vinegar sambal. But it’s so much more than that, there’s a lot of garlic and ginger too. And because we don’t cook the paste, it very much retains its raw, intimidating flavours.
For a fun read, you might be interested in this article I wrote on LinsFood: “How do you Spell Chilli?”.
Chilli Chuka Recipe
It’s a really, really easy recipe to make. All we do is:
- Roughly chop everything up and place in a food chopper.
- Chop/blend to a fine paste.
- Taste, adjust seasoning and use/store.
It’ll probably take you about 7 minutes, 10 including the washing up!
Ingredients
Chillies
You want red chillies, given that this is a red chilli paste/condiment. The type of chillies you use will determine the heat of your chilli chuka.
Use birds eye type chillies for a hot result and something milder like red jalapeños for a milder sambal. And if you really, really don’t want the heat but love the flavour, use a red bell pepper with just 1 red chilli for a super mild chilli chuka.
Garlic and Ginger
This is a pretty garlicky and gingery condiment. Some people keep the aromatics to just the garlic, not using any ginger in this at all. But the combination of these two produces a much more satisfying dip, as far as I’m concerned, so I always use them both.
In fact, I pretty much use an equal amount of garlic and ginger in our chilli chuka.
Vinegar
It is called chilli chuka. So the vinegar is no bit player in the recipe. Traditionally, the clear, humble white vinegar is used for this.
Since we’re not cooking this sambal, the vinegar will remain in its raw, unadulterated state. Clear white vinegar is perfectly fine, I mean, let’s face it, our grandmothers were happy to use it for their chilli chuka, right?
However, I prefer to use rice vinegar for its sweeter and more refined flavour. This is up to you.
Salt and Sugar
You want a little of both. In the recipe, I suggest a small amount to blend with. Then after blending your chilli chuka, taste it, and add more salt or sugar, if necessary.
You could even use light soy sauce, instead of salt, for a little more flavour. But mind you, the colour will darken too.
How to use Chilli Chuka?
As mentioned right at the start, this is used as a condiment, whether as a dip or a sambal. Here are some examples:
- top noodles with it, whether that’s dry or soup noodles.
- serve it with eggs, be it fried, boiled or scrambled. Chilli chuka can also be folded into your beaten egg before being fried.
- It’s definitely the spicy red chilli condiment to serve Hainanese chicken rice with (I know, that’s one long overdue recipe!)
- Use it to spice up any Asian based stews and soups like this Eurasian Corned Beef Stew.
- add to salad dressings, perfect with the vinegar in there.
How to Store?
If not using it all up, transfer your chilli chuka to a clean jar and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Because of its high acid level, it makes a prime candidate for long term storage.
Place in an airtight container, give it a water bath, and it will last a good year, if left unopened.
There you have it, shall we get cooking? Or not, in this case!
If you enjoy the recipe, drop me a comment and let me know. And if you are feeling like a star, don’t forget that 5-star rating!
If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.
Lin xx
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