Hot Sauce Galore: Southern Chinese Style and Roasted Garlic Poblano Lime

My hot peppers are in full swing which means I’ve collected quite a bit of them. While I’ve been giving them away to friends and family, I’ve also been dreaming of making hot sauce for those cold winter months to come. I came up with these two delectably delicious sauces, that makes use of their colors as well as their flavors.

Southern Chinese Red Pepper Ginger Hot Sauce

This particular sauce brings back memories of my grandparents, who used to take us to this specialty restaurant for southern Chinese chicken and rice. Hainan Chicken and rice is never complete without this spicy condiment. The ginger is a gorgeous complement to the poached chicken, tangy, sweet, but with a kick of heat. I used whatever peppers happened to have turned red in my garden, which included some scotch bonnets, red jalapenos, and some interesting unnamed pepper that I didn’t label, but was a fiery red. I don’t deseed them but you can if you’d like.

Recipe

• 2 cups red chili peppers
• 1/4 cup lemon or lime juice
• 2 inch piece of ginger, skinned
• 1 teaspoon salt (more if preferred)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon sugar

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Allow to chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before using.
2. Can be fermented in the fridge for the flavor to develop and deepen.

Roasted Garlic Poblano Lime Sauce

The other day I went with one of my best friends to a wonderful Spanish tapas restaurant for brunch, in the heart of Babylon. They were also a small market, with cute things on the shelves for sale. In one of them, I saw a Spanish cookbook and I flipped through it quickly, seeing a recipe for “piquillo” pepper sauce. It looked delicious, so I decided to go home and make a similar sauce, but instead with the poblanos I had been growing. I took home some fresh hot croquettes and empanadas, which I had the sauce with. It was absolutely divine.

Again, I don’t bother deseeding–but you can if you’d like.

Ingredients

• 2 cups poblano peppers
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1//4 onion
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon lime zest

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Toss poblano peppers and 6 of the garlic cloves and the onion in olive oil. Roast in a baking tray for 30 – 40 minutes in the oven.
3. Once roasted and slightly charred, place peppers, roasted garlic, roasted onions, the 2 remaining garlic cloves, lime juice, zest, salt, and sugar into a blender. Blend until smooth.
4. Allow to chill for at least an hour in the fridge for the flavors to meld together. Can be fermented in the fridge for the flavor to develop and deepen.