Cookbook Club – Chin Chin: The Book

I was traveling and missed our official Cookbook Club events for April, but I did manage to make it to the bonus event where we used Chin Chin: The Book by Benjamin Cooper. We did it as a bonus event because this book is not easy to get – as far as I can tell, it’s only currently available at the actual Chin Chin restaurant in Melbourne and on their website (not even on Amazon!). But Sheana was gifted the book by a friend who had visited Melbourne, so we all managed to make do with that single copy and have an incredible Thai feast which you can see on my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish!

I was only back in LA for about a week between trips. Just long enough to unpack, do laundry, and re-pack… and squeeze in the Chin Chin event because I love Thai food and wasn’t about to miss out on this one! I know I’ve said I needed easy dishes in the past, but this time it was the absolute driving force in my dish selection. Luckily, there was a recipe for Fresh Fruit with Chilli Sugar and Lime.

It is exactly what it sounds like – a bowl full of sugar combined with minced scud chilies and lime zest, served with your choice of tropical fruit and some lime wedges. I chose mango!

Yeah, that’s it. But I have to say it presents nicely, and this tangy spicy sweet fruit dish could work well as either an appetizer, side, or dessert. I would note that dipping the fruit into the sugar causes it to get clumpy, so in future I’d use a spoon to sprinkle rather than dip.