Hot Sauce

Hot Sauce 

The truth is I do not like store bought bottled sauces. I mean sure there are some sauces which you cannot make at home mainly due to unavailability of ingredients but the whole idea of using bottled sauces is not a great source of comfort for me. The truth is the best food you can cook is with ingredients which are easily available around you. To be fair I have never ever been a huge fan of Tabasco Red Pepper sauce mostly due to the excessive amount of vinegar. I do not know if its authentic or not but that amount of sourness just does not suit my taste buds but then again isn't India the land of hot spicy food and do we not have a wide variety of chilies. So making hot sauce at home is a better of 1 hour.

The best part of making a recipe at home other than the extreme emotional satisfaction is knowing what goes in and customizing it as per one's taste. Mine is thick , hot as per my taste buds and not too salty

Yields 250gm thick sauce :-

What you need :-

Approximately 500gm fresh big red pepper  (The ones you use for mircha pakodis)
1 large red bell pepper
5 to 6 Rajasthani dried red chili for the punch
Salt as per taste
5 tbsp vinegar
12 tbsp water
4 tbsp olive oil
Cloves of 1 pod of garlic
Transparent plastic gloves for hygiene and protection

Start by de-seeding the fresh chili peppers and bell pepper. Now skin the garlic and press them with the flat of the knife. Heat  the oil and then add the garlic and from then on use low heat throughout the cooking  , when it is softened add the sliced bell pepper and chilies and then use high heat for a minute or two and add salt and vinegar and then simply simmer on low heat for the next 10 minutes to 15 minutes till the peppers are all softened well and add the water and bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat covered till all the water evaporates.

The texture before being sieved 

Let it cool down to room temperature and then simply blend away, taste it and if required add more salt . Once blend wear gloves and use strainer to strain this hot sauce.

After being sieved 

Spoon into sterilized jars and let it age for 2 weeks. You have thick hot sauce ready for you, well ready in another 2 weeks. Once you open it refrigerate immediately and it lasts for 6 months but then again I suggest using it as fast as possible