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1
Place chilies in a bowl.
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2
In a small saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; green onions cook until they start to brown.
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3
Add garlic; cook until golden.
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4
Pour through a strainer over chilies; set chili oil aside to cool.
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5
Remove green onion from strainer and discard.
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6
Finely chop garlic cloves and set aside.
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7
In a large bowl add cold water to cover onions; let stand 20 minutes.
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8
Drain and set aside.
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9
In a large pot of boiling water, blanch tomatoes 20 seconds; drain.
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10
Rinse under cold running water.
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11
Over a bowl, peel, core and seed them; finely chop tomato flesh and add to onions.
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12
Strain accumulated juices from bowl; add to tomatoes and onions.
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13
In a small bowl stir together ginger, fish sauce and 2 tbsp (25 ml) water.
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14
Strain through a piece of cheesecloth over tomato-onion mixture, squeezing to extract juice.
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15
Stir in cucumber, peppers (if using), mint or coriander, lime juice and chili oil until well mixed.
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16
Season to taste with salt.
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17
Thin with water or tomato juice to desired consistency.
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18
Chill 30 minutes or until cool.
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19
In dry frying pan over medium heat, toast dried chilies until darkened but not black.
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20
Transfer chilies to a spice grinder (or mortar and pestle) and grind to a reasonably fine powder.
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21
Garnish chilled gazpacho with lime wedges and herb leaves.
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22
Serve with roasted chili powder for seasoning to taste.
