Ingredients
| 12 | Scallops, large diver-caught, trimmed (Main) |
| 1 to taste | Salt & freshly ground pepper |
| 1 | Sesame oil |
| 1 | Watercress, leaves |
| ½ cup | Creme fraiche |
| 1 | Sweet chilli sauce |
| 10 | Garlic cloves, peeled |
| 4 | Long red chillies, stems removed |
| 3 pieces | Fresh ginger, thumbs, peeled and roughly chopped |
| 1 | Galangal, thumb, peeled and roughly chopped |
| 8 | Limes, leaves |
| 3 stems | Lemongrass, remove the two outside leaves, discard the top third of the stem and finely slice the remainder |
| 1 cup | Fresh coriander, fresh |
| 1 ½ cups | Caster sugar |
| 1 ½ cups | Caster sugar |
| 100 ml | Cider vinegar |
| 50 ml | Fish sauce |
| 50 ml | Tamari sauce |
Directions
- Put the first seven ingredients of the chilli sauce in a food processor and puree to a coarse paste.
- Put the sugar in a saucepan with 4 tablespoons of water and place on a moderate heat, stirring well until the sugar dissolves.
- When it has, remove the spoon and turn the heat up to full.
- Boil for 5-8 minutes and do not stir until it has turned a dark caramel colour (but do not allow to burn).
- Stir in the paste, bring the sauce back to the boil and add the last three chilli sauce ingredients.
- Lightly oil the scallops with sesame oil and season with salt and pepper, then grill each side on a hot char-grill, overhead grill, or skillet for 90 seconds.
- To serve, sit the scallops on a bed of watercress, put a dollop of creme fraiche on top and drizzle generously with sweet chilli sauce.