About a month ago our friends Martin and Denise Marshall came to visit from Portland. Our daughter was at horse camp and we made the best of it by doing a little bar hopping and ending the evening with dinner at the Dog and Pony Alehouse in Renton, WA. What drew us there was I had heard they had good IPA beer on tap and they had also appeared in an episode of Restaurant Impossible. 
The food was great (best mozzarella sticks ever). I ordered their taco salad with beer braised chicken and sweet chili dressing. I ordered the dressing on the side because I wasn’t sure I would like it. Wow! it was fantastic. Thus of course began a search for a recipe for Thai Sweet Chili Dressing.
Fast forward to Thursday night this week. I needed a idea for dinner and remembered pinning recipes for the Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. As I was scrolling through my Pinterest recipe board, I noticed I had also pinned one for Sweet Chili Salmon – the light bulb went off in my head. Steve and I love salmon. I was able to pick up a decent piece at the supermarket (I prefer to go to the fish market but I wasn’t driving all the way to Issaquah or to Pike).
I would make a few modifications to the sauce, it was a little overboard on the heat for my taste – maybe use the half the red pepper flake. Although once I put used it in the Sweet Chili Salmon recipe it cut the heat.
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1 tbsp finely minced garlic
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp or less Siracha/ Hot sauce (optional)
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 tbsp of cold water (to dissolve the cornstarch)
- 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (or 1/2 tsp salt if you don’t have any)
- Start with 3/4 cup of sugar in a small sauce pan.
- Add the rice vinegar and water to the sugar and turn the heat to a medium high. Bring the sugar solution to a boil while stirring, until the all the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the finely minced garlic and crushed red pepper.
- For some extra heat and color you can add some siracha or hot sauce to it. I like it to have a little zip to it after the initial sweet flavor. Let the sauce simmer bubble for a few minutes until it thickens slightly and all the flavors blend in.
- In the meantime, dissolve 1 tablespoon of corn startch in a tablespoon of cold water until there are no lumps in it.
- Turn the heat up to a rapid bubble and pour in the cornstarch slurry in the sauce and stir it well.
- You’ll notice the sauce thicken faster and you can turn the heat down again. Lastly, add 1/2 tbsp of fish sauce for some saltiness or a 1/2 tsp of regular salt and stir it in. Turn off the heat and let the sauce cool down.
- Serve as a dipping sauce, or toss a couple tablespoons in a stir fry for sweet and spicy dish! Bottled or in an air-tight container this sauce lasts a long time in the fridge
- Note: I would probably cut the amount of red pepper and Siracha. It was a bit too spicy for my taste.
- 3 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
- 2 salmon fillets
- 1. In a small bowl, mix the chili sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, one garlic clove, ginger and pepper.
- 2. Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish, and coat with the chili mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once.
- 3. Preheat oven to 400 F.
- 4. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork