Master Chilli Paste / Cili Boh

Cili boh is the basic dried chilli paste used in many Singaporean dishes. It can be as simple as plain blended chilli, with or without seeds. More complex versions have added shallot and garlic, and here I have added ginger, galangal and lemongrass, as these enhance all the following pastes, sauces and accompanying recipes. If you don’t have fresh, you can find frozen lemongrass and galangal in Asian speciality stores, or you can omit them from the paste if you don’t have them – it will still be delicious. When you have made the paste once, you can adapt the quantities to your taste, for example more garlic or more/hotter chillies for more heat.

Not all chillies are created equal; they range from mild to ‘blow your head off’. I like to use Kashmiri chillies as they are nice and mild so you can handle them without gloves, and they add lots of chilli flavour without the heat. I prefer to add more heat at the end to diners’ personal preferences using sliced fresh chillies, chilli sauce or chilli crisp or oil. The generic long red chillies tend to be quite spicy, so you could halve the quantity to start and get rid of the seeds. The paste
will keep refrigerated for a week, or freeze.

View the recipe collection here

Instructions

1.	Using scissors, snip off the tops of the chillies and discard.
2.	Cut the chillies in half lengthwise.
3.	Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the chillies and bring back to the boil.
4.	Remove from the heat and leave the chillies to soak for 30 minutes until plump and tender, stirring occasionally.
5.	Remove with tongs, leaving the seeds behind. Drain.
6.	Put into a food processor or blender with the shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal and lemongrass and blend to a smooth paste with 100ml water.