Serves 4
• 12 large diver-caught scallops, trimmed
• Sesame oil
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• Watercress leaves
• ½ cup creme fraiche
• Sweet chilli sauce
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled
• 4 large red chillies, stems removed
• 3 thumbs fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 thumb galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
• 8 lime leaves
• 3 lemon-grass stems, remove the two outside leaves, discard the top third of the stem and finely slice the remainder
• 1 cup fresh coriander leaves
• 1 ½ cups castor sugar
• 100ml cider vinegar
• 50ml fish sauce
• 50ml tamari sauce
1. Put the first seven ingredients of the chilli sauce in a food processor and puree to a coarse paste.
2. 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).
3. Stir in the paste, bring the sauce back to the boil and add the last three chilli sauce ingredients.