This is my first soul veggies post and I’ve decided to dedicate it to something that is a big part of my eating and cooking life. HEAT! Spicy food is something I grew up eating, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered the variety of different styles and tastes of heat, and what that means to my palate and to my endorphin. This endever was inspired by an amazing mango habanero chutney I ate for the first time at Pizza Jerk (which I have now returned to eat alongside tasty rotis and other items many times), and also at the time my new found obsession with marie sharps hot sauce. There are many ways to make hot sauce and every time I make it it is different. Habanero is my favourite kind to make and is by far the hottest and most unpredictable. This hot sauce was put into sterilized jars and made with honey, vinegar, limes, tamarind, ginger and a whole lotta love. As I said I am still experimenting to “lock” down a perfect combination, but you can play around with levels of sweetness, added flavours and acids at your leisure. I don’t often cook with honey, I prefer to use agave or coconut sugar instead but at the time it was what I had on hand. Here is the original amounts of what this batch contained and the directions. Please do try this at home, but be careful, once you’ve been burned you cant go back….duh, duh, DUH!
20 habaneros (seeds at your discretion)
1 onion, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 carrot, minced
3 cloves smashed garlic
1″ ginger, grated
4 tsp tamarind concentrate
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 cup tequila
1) saute onion, shallot, garlic, carrot, ginger till softened
2) blend together with remaining ingredients
3) jar and keep in fridge for 6 months
4) caution: will become hotter the longer you leave it in there!
*the tequila can be omitted, or cooked down with the aromatics if necessary
