Make Your Own Hot Sauce

Nothing tickles my taste buds like a good hot sauce, and after years of travelling around the world adding many triumphs of gastronomic concoctions to my collection, last year I decided it was about time I make a mess in the kitchen and create my own. I wanted to make a fresh tasting hot sauce that didn’t blow your head off, but had a slightly fruity and summery quality to it while still packing a nice punch.

First things first, it has to be easy to make – I can’t be spending all day boiling and reducing things, and the ingredients should be readily available. So after a tiny bit of research I got bored and started blitzing chilli’s in a blender. A lot of trial and error later, the recipe is now perfected (to my tastes anyway) and so I share it with you now, as my legacy in making anything from eggs on toast into an amazing meal!

Ingredients: 8 Red & Green Chillies 2 Dried Smoked jalapeños (Chipotle Chillies) 4 Garlic cloves (roughly chopped) 200ml Cider Vinegar 200ml Apple Juice Salt & Pepper

Step 1. Boil some hot water and cover the dried smoked jalapeños with water in a bowl to rehydrate. Put a smaller dish inside to make sure the chillies stay submersed in the water. Leave for about 30 minutes, or until you’re finished with step 2.

Step 2. Roast your chillies. I usually time making my hot sauce with when we’re having a barbecue, then I can use the intense heat from first lighting the coals to scorch the skin while cooking the flesh to perfection. If however you don’t have time to use a barbecue, you can easily do it on a gas hob in your kitchen. Either lay a wire grill over the hob & lay the chillies around to cook on the flame, or hold them with some tongs.

Make sure you get a good colour all over the chillies and keep cooking until soft and squidgy. Don’t worry, they’re not burnt when black, that’s just extra goodness!

Step 3. Roughly chop your freshly cooked chillies along with the garlic cloves and rehydrated chipotle chillies. Then chuck them all into a blender with a good pinch of sea salt and a few grinds of pepper. Not too much, you can always add more later.

Now add your liquids and you’re ready to whizz.

Step 4. Blend the combined ingredients using the pulse button. You don’t want to puree everything, just give it a good chop and mix together well so you should still be able to see bits floating in it. Taste and season, and add some more apple juice if you think it’s too acidic from the vinegar.

It will be VERY spicy now, so pass the whole thing through a sieve to get rid of some of the liquid. This will take out some of the heat, otherwise it is ridiculous and no fun to eat – unless you like being scolded from the inside then setting up camp on the ceramic throne all night…

Step 5. With your thick sauce all finished, just add it to a bottle and use it wherever you like!

Tip – You can save the drained off liquid in another bottle and use it as a great marinade for chicken or pork chops!

Hope you enjoy this recipe, and please send over photos of your finished product and any tips from experimenting yourself! Cheers, sim