Super Chill Chili Garlic Sauce
Liquid gold in the fridge!
This is the easiest chili garlic sauce—it uses loads of peppers (spicy or not, you choose—I prefer a mix of Hungarian (medium spicy) and jalapeño) and can just stay in the fridge and get better with time. It’s what I make when all the peppers are ripe NOW and I want to preserve them for maximum deliciousness. I’ve combined a few recipes over the years into one that works best for me but I think that in general it’s fairly adaptable. You can leave out the sugar if you’d like for a more salt/vinegar profile but I’ve found that a little sugar really helps the overall flavor of the sauce.
Found these in between the weeds in the garden.
Super Chill Chili Garlic Sauce
Ingredients:
—2lb, 9 oz mixed chili peppers (2.5 lbs is great)
—2 small heads garlic, peeled (12-14 medium cloves)
—1T kosher salt (I use Diamond Crystal)
—1T sugar
—1.5c white vinegar
—1.5 c water
Cut the green tops off the peppers (taking care to not touch the cut parts with your bare skin, or use gloves to prevent capsaicin burns), and place all of the ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan with a lid. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, covered, for ten minutes.
This is what it looks like before blending.
Check the peppers and liquid. You want the liquid to be reduced almost to a syrup but not to boil off entirely, and you want the peppers to be soft and cooked but not totally cooked to oblivion. Keep cooking the peppers (20 minutes total or so covered), and then remove the lid and cook for five more minutes uncovered, or until the liquid is reduced but not gone. You can add more liquid (half vinegar, half water) if the liquid seems to be boiling off before the peppers are cooked. Stir occasionally. Once the mixture is cool, use an immersion blender or regular blender (in batches for safety) to create a thick paste. Taste and correct seasonings (I added more salt). Store in jars in the fridge (should be good for about a month, you can pour a little vinegar on top each time to keep it fresh longer as long as you don’t mind a bit more vinegar flavor), or in the freezer (I’ve read it should be good for up to a year in the freezer but I haven’t tried it myself yet). Ours from last year (with extra vinegar) lasted in the fridge almost an entire year without getting moldy—and the flavor improved over time while becoming less spicy!
