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recipe-help Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce - Imitation Recipe?

So, I decided yesterday that I wanted to try to make an imitation Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce. My wife tried it in Thailand and was hooked on it. She's not a fan of other hot sauces, and I'd like to make something she'd eat as well.

I'm making a small batch as a trial run.
So far, I've decided upon the following:
 

  • ~150 g red Pickled Thai Chili Peppers
  • 3/4 cups white vinegar
  • 3/4 cups water
  • 1/2 cups sugar
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • Xanthan Gum

Biggest thing to figure out is the vinegar-water-sugar balance. Most recipes I see seem to be all over the place.
I've got a few days to wait for to make this recipe. Most imitation recipes I see don't call for pickling the peppers, but Mae Ploy does list in in their ingredients list, so yesterday I set about pickling the peppers:

Pickling Recipe -

- ~15 Thai Chilis, Dried & Roasted
-1 cup distilled water
-1 cup distilled white vinegar
-1 Tbsp Pickling Salt
-1/2 Jalapeno
-Black peppercorns, Garlic Powder
-3 cloves garlic

Should be good in just over a week. If I want to add the jalapenos, I might wait longer since they're thicker skinned.
 
Yes, I Know.....
 
The point was to get a bunch of NOOBIE sauce makers to think outside the box if they didn't have any peppers of "GenXF1RetroHybridexactlytheEXACTpepperspecifiedintherecipeButIdon'thavethatsoWTFdoIdo"......and could substitute something that would work.
 
 
 
never mind, recipe posted out of context for the OP
 
OK I get it. I thought it was your own recipe so the peppers confused me. So it was more of a guide, or challenge, thing. 
 
A good recipe for Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce is just a Google away:
 
MaePloy.jpg

 
https://theartoffoodandwine.com/sweet-chili-sauce-recipe/
 
Let me know how it comes out . . . 
 
 
SCARBO
 
So use another hot sauce to make it? lol. If you are going to do that may as well buy the mae ploy. It's so cheap. And huy fong is more expensive lol.
 
SCARBO said:
A good recipe for Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce is just a Google away:
 
https://theartoffoodandwine.com/sweet-chili-sauce-recipe/
 
Let me know how it comes out . . . 
 
 
SCARBO
 
Add fresh grated ginger
Try tapioca starch instead
Add sugar late in the cook down so you dont caramelize it
Starting with a bottle of some cheap ass Crystals Xtra Hot works out pretty well too. (Only $13/gal)
 
I like Linghams better and Tabasco Sweet&Spicy but it cost too much. Pretty easy to turn a bottle of Tabasco into 2 bottles of Sweet&Spicy.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
 
Add fresh grated ginger
Try tapioca starch instead
 
 
Just curious why the ginger and why the tapioca starch instead of cornstarch.   Is there ginger in the original Mae Ploy?   I don't have a bottle handy to check the ingredients.   And what's the benefit of tapioca over cornstarch?
 
I ordered one to try from Ginger People on their Amazon store. Mainly because the sodium is super low. My Tabasco Sweet/Spicy clone is low but not super low. Little less than half. Linghams isnt low either but i love the ingredient list. No added crap. Mae Ploy is so cheap for me to buy locally its just not worth the effort to make the same thing especially when i like ginger in my sweet and spicy sauce much more.
 
Only 5mg of sodium in 2 tbs
81BOr1ipIHL._SL1500_.jpg
 
That bottle aint cheap either. Its about $10 and Fresh Thyme dont carry the sauce in my store. They sell the ginger syrup i might it pickup today. I ordered another Thai chile sauce off Amazon too. 2-23.6oz bottles for $11ish. Its 95mg per tbs and probably not nearly as sweet so its gunna need some "doctoring" to make it more like a Thai/Malay/Indo sweet chile sauce.
 
Our local market carries Linghams but they are almost always out of the ginger. I love the Tabasco Sweet n Spicy but it aint very spicy. Plus its $2.50/5oz when on sale. That gets a bit expensive with smothering a bunch of wings or pork in some sauce.
 
I tried this brands Soy Sauce/Teriyaki and for the price it was acceptable. Im hoping the Chile sauce with just some sugar and ginger will be worth the $11. Pops has a sodium restricted diet and im borderline high blood pressure.
 
I got the Spicy one...Not the sweet.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089LNGN2F
rDUny5C.png
 
I sampled the Ginger People sauce and then delivered it to pops. First taste i thought it was much too mild but the Fiji ginger bits in it pack a solid punch. Second taste i got more heat from it but still mild. Great sauce if you have company that cant handle a lot of heat........Pops LOVED IT!!!
 
Gunna try this recipe but using the Best Of Thailand sauce i got coming. Possibly add some fresh lime juice too. It might need some pepper flakes (with seeds) depending on how spicy it is. Like the ones in shakers for topping pizza.
 
1 5oz bottle of Tabasco
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup raw sugar
1-2 TBS honey (optional)
2-3 TSP Fresh grated ginger
2 Cloves crushed minced garlic
1 TSP onion powder
1 TSP of tapioca starch in water to thicken (optional)
Combine and heat everything but the sugar/honey and starch to a simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Add sugar/honey and stir until well dissolved being careful not to caramelize it.
Thicken with the tapioca starch slurry.
 
I found a place that has the Ginger People sauce for around $5.25 per bottle plus shipping. 4 bottles comes out to under $27 shipped IIRC. Vitacost has it if anyone is looking for a super low sodium sweet chile sauce.
https://www.vitacost.com/ginger-people-sweet-spicy-dip-and-cooking-sauce
 
Secondly, Amazon fubarred my first order with the Best Of Thailand sauce. I canceled it and reordered. First one somehow magically got lost on the final Prime delivery vehicle. Well the first order arrived yesterday and i sampled it. Not nearly as sweet as sauces like Mae Ploy or Linghams. It is sweet though. Not as spicy either but it aint bad at all. Same order had some Anthony foods powdered ginger root i can use to give it a ginger bite.
 
Really makes me wonder how the people that posted Amazon reviews thought it was very spicy. 3 people including me tried it. We all felt it was mildish but had enough heat for things like wings or stirfries.
 
I found my xanthan gum and a bag of tapioca starch for more homemade experiments later. I dried a few late season Antep Aci Dolma that had a nice amount of heat. Plus some dried Numex Orange Spice. Those might be interesting to try in a sauce like that.
 
Alright - entirely new reason to make this recipe:

After COVID, my wife has a parosmia that makes garlic taste horrible to her.
Unfortunately this recipe uses enough garlic that removing it will offset the flavors and reduce the mass of the recipe. Is there anything I can add in for filler or other good Thai flavors?
 
Is there a difference from cooked garlic to fresh garlic for your wife?
 
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