Red Pepper and Chilli Jam Recipe

Method:

1. Using kitchen tongs, hold your red peppers over a flame and char them on all sides until they are completely black. Put them in a bowl and cover with a plate to allow them to steam themselves and cool down for 10 mins.
2. Once cooled, peel off most of the black charred flesh. It should wipe straight off but don’t worry if the odd bit is a little stuck, it all adds to the flavour! Cut the pepper flesh away from the seed core and place the flesh in a blender.
3. Next, with your chillis, consider the level of heat you want in your jam and discard the chilli seeds accordingly. Personally, I like to keep the seeds in one chilli and remove them from the other. Once you’ve got the hang of a chilli recipe, you can experiment with flavour and heat by using different chilli varieties to taste.
4. With your onion you can choose one of two paths: either quarter the onion and put it in the blender raw (it will cook with the heat of the jam so you don’t need to worry about it being acrid, or, slowly brown the onion in a pan with some butter or olive oil. The second option brings a greater depth of flavour, but moves the condiment more into the chutney realm.
5. Once the red pepper, chillis and onions are all in the blender together, whizz them up until they are finely chopped.
6. Heat the vinegar, sugar, honey and water in a large pan until the sugar has dissolved, then add the chilli, pepper and onion mix. Follow the instructions on the jam sugar pack with regards to heat and setting point.
7. When your jam is ready, skim off the scum from the top and pour into a sanitised glass jam jar.
8. Once cooled, enjoy on an all manner of things!