I just found this terrific new(to me)chile paste out of Thailand, a vegetarian chilli paste...cheng sim, comprised of soybeans, dried chili, red onion, garlic,salt, sugar, vegetable oil, in that order on the label, made by CAL Industries & Marketing Co. Ltd, in Bangkok, it is a really good chile paste, of course the first thing I did when I opened the bottle(8 ozs ...$3.49 Cdn)was stick a spoon into it, tried a small taste first(discretion, etc!)then had a good taste...sweet to the tongue, hot to the back of the mouth, REAL hot when it hits the throat, and it lingers, and lingers, and half an hour later,was still there...most of the chile pastes that I have had before have had fish or shrimp paste incorporated into them, but for any vegetarians out there, this is the answer to hot vegan! So I had to try it out on a recipe...cant remember if I posted this one before, but here it is :

Pour the coconut milk into a good sized stainless pot add the salt and then add the chicken pieces...bring to a boil, turn to simmer and cook for about ten minutes until the chicken is cooked, remove from heat and set aside. Put peanut oil in a wok, add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger and cook a little until vegs softened, add the chile paste, (curry paste) and stir fry for about a minute or two, until it is fragrant, lower the heat and add the fish sauce, then the reserved chicken in coconut milk, and cook until reduced somewhat, for about five minutes, there should not be too much sauce...place into a serving dish, add the basil leaves, chopped up, and then throw the shredde lime leaves or lime rind over all the dish. Serve with Thai rice or basmati rice...This is a take off from a recipe I have done for years, which I got from Madhur Jaffreys Far Eastern Cookery..enjoy it...Cheers, Doug in BC

From: Doug Irvine
Posted By: Doug Irvine, dougandmarie@home.com
Post Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998