Creamy Herb Dip

An easy creamy herb dip, great for a veggie lunch box or to serve with crisps and vegetable batons. Could also work well stirred into a pasta salad.

Ingredients

A selection of herbs; parsley, basil, chives for example

Watercress

Rocket

Spinach

1/4 white onion finely chopped

3 tbsps cream cheese

3 tbsps natural yoghurt

1 tbsp mayonaisse

Sprinkle of paprika 

Splash of Tabasco sauce

Squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Roughly chop your mixed herbs and the salad leaves, and squeeze over some lemon juice
2. Finely chop a quarter of an onion and add to a food processor along with the greens
3. Add the cream cheese, yoghurt and mayonnaise and pulse together
4. Taste and add more yoghurt to loosen if needed. Add the paprika, tabasco and lemon juice and transfer to a bowl
5. Stir to ensure all ingredients are well combined, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Home-made Sweet Chilli Sauce Recipe

This recipe is taken from
http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaicurrypasterecipes/r/Easy-Thai-Sweet-Chili-Sauce-Recipe.htm

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes

Yield: Makes 1/2 Cup of Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice vinegar (or substitute white vinegar)
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. white sugar
1/4 cup water
3 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. sherry (or cooking sherry)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 to 1 Tbsp. dried crushed chili (1 Tbsp. makes spicy-hot sauce)
1+1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3-4 Tbsp. cool water
Preparation:

Place all ingredients - except the cornstarch-water mixture - in a sauce pan or pot. Bring to a rolling boil.
Reduce heat to medium and let boil for 10 minutes, or until reduced by half. (Note that the vinegar will be quite pungent as it burns off. Generally, I find rice vinegar less strong than regular white vinegar).
Reduce heat to low and add the cornstarch-water mixture. Stir to incorporate and continue stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens (about 2 minutes).
Remove from heat and taste-test. You should taste "sweet" first, followed by sour, then spicy and salty notes. If the sauce isn't sweet enough, add a little more sugar. If not spicy enough, add more chili.
Pour sauce into a small bowl or jar and serve as a condiment or a sauce for
chicken and rice as I have done.