Thursday, 27 March 2014

My Recipe for 'healthier' Chilli Dipping sauce without sugar


lower sugar chili dipping sauce

I love chilli dipping sauce, the sticky sweetness with the hit of the chili is delicious but I'm always conscious of the sugar content, try my sugar free alternative. Well ok its not quite without any sugar but a much healthier alternative with a low GI so you don't get the sugar crash that's often associated with regular sugar.

Regular chili sauce requires quite a lot of sugar which is simmered down to give a nice rich syrupy consistency to the sauce but that comes with all the negative attributes associated with sugar. However it can be made inter a healthier condiment by substituting the sugar for Agave syrup or natural fruit extracts like sweet freedom. Sweet freedom has 25% less calories than ordinary sugar and is already syrupy in consistency. You also use 25% less gram for gram than sugar, is tolerated by Diabetics (as part of a healthy diet) and has a low GL (Glycaemic load). Agave syrup works in much the same way but is made from the Agave cactus rather than from fruit.

Now for the recipe......
I don't very often measure anything out so please feel free to adjust the quantities to taste.
1 cup of white wine vinegar
2 cups of water
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 small chillies (seeds out if you want a milder flavour)
300 grams sweet freedom

place in pan and bring to a boil. then simmer gently for 10mins. If you want a thicker sauce you could add some cornflower mixed with a little water to make a paste. Use as a straight forward dipping sauce or use as a marinade for prawns or chicken, great with noodles.