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Awesome Sauce

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kiwi View Drop Down
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    Posted: 30 May 2010 at 02:54
I had this post almost all done yesterday, then accidentally clicked back, then Ragequit.  Better start again Embarrassed

I think we need a misc basket section. This doesn't really belong to any specific country, so it's going in the Offtopic. mods feel free to move it if you think it belongs somewhere better.

Etymology
This sauce is named for a mate of mine who instead of just saying 'Awesome', says 'Awesome sauce'. Never heard anyone else say that, but I know he's going to chuckle when he opens the fridge and finds awesome sauce in it.

The Problem
I have this chili bush (var. 'Apache'), and it is PROLIFIC. I'm worried for the other plants in the garden, because I'm fairly sure that when I'm not watching, the plant gets out of its pot and kicks ass and takes names. Anyway, I've got plenty of chili infused oil, and can't get through my chili vinaigrette fast enough, so I need to do something with excess fruit. It's quite wintery here now, and a lot of the fruit are quite stunted as well, and these ripe but small fruit are generally left on the bush as they're more fiddly for cooking etc and people are lazy. I picked all of these stunted fruit yesterday and resolved to do something with them.

To give you an idea of what the fruit are like, they are very similar to a birdseye chili in size and flavour, but maybe a touch hotter. They're quite thin walled. I'd use maybe half a chili per serving for a very hot dish.

The Goal
I decided to make a spicy sauce. After some consideration, I decided that I'd steer away from a Tabasco type product (we have a great local one called Kaitaia Fire - it rhymes if you're saying it right) and make something that could be applied more liberally, so decided on a tomato base. I wasn't really aiming for anything regional or 'authentic' I just wanted a spicy kick in a bottle with loads of flavour. This isn't a total ingredient shot, I added stuff as I thought of it, but will give an idea of what I was going for.


The cayenne pepper is actually Kashmiri Chili, Which I think has a superior flavour. I used canned tomatoes (lazy, 400g). I ended up using a lot more coriander than that as well.
Additions that aren't pictured: Garlic paste; Bourbon; Smoked paprika; lemon

Process
The tomatoes, some coriander, the chopped onion, one red capsicum, good grind of pepper, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of garlic, 2 teaspoons of cumin, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, and 1 tablespoon of kashmiri chili goes into the pot to form the base for the sauce.



I got that simmering away and turned my attention to the chilis. I deseeded them, and chucked them in the mortar with a sliced capsicum to turn into what I have affectionately dubbed the 'death paste'. Before:


After

This took a fair bit of work, and I had to get a tiny amount and go and convince people to eat it, with hilarious consequences.

Meanwhile, the base had simmered up nicely. after a taste I doubled the coriander and black pepper, then crash cooled in the sink:


And transfered to the blender, where it was liquified:


Then it was returned to the pot. I added in the 'death paste', 1/3 cup cider vinegar, the juice of half a lemon, and stirred that in. to clean out the mortar, I added a good dram of my finest and sloshed the remaining chili and bourbon into the pot.


I then gave it a good long simmer on extremely low heat, maybe for an hour, and reduced it by a fair amount as well. I passed the time by dipping poppadoms into the pot and eating them. Yummy:

At the end of the simmer I decided it could do with a touch more of a coriander kick, so I added a third lot right before giving it a final blend. Now it's been bottled in sterilised 250ml bottles (2 of them) and will rest for a week in the fridge. hopefully it lasts that long, it's pretty delicious already.


Anyway just thought I'd share the random creation of a rainy afternoon.
Cheers.
Kiwi




kai time!
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TasunkaWitko View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 May 2010 at 08:05
incredible to be able to create such a fine-looking sauce on the spur of the moment like that. it seems to me that you've achieved an "awesome," well-balanced flavour combination. congrats!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 May 2010 at 08:40
Beautiful! I love that "death paste" ! Looks like we've got another awesome sauce added to the foruma nd mighty welcome too. From the looks of it, you could sell bottles of that delicacy with no problem. I wish I could get a taste of that.....I wonder how much fedex charges for a pound box to NZ for a trade?  Tongue
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kiwi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 May 2010 at 14:28
Too much! I'm paying for 6 pounds of stuff to get shipped here from the US, and it hurts.
kai time!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 May 2010 at 10:03
Six pounds as in weight, or pounds as in Sterling? I discussed sending you some satan's salsa with my wife and she sent a book to NZ (weighed about 2 lbs) and she said she thought it was only $12. Not bad for sending something halfway across the planet!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kiwi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 May 2010 at 18:02
6 pounds in weight. We don't have pounds stirling here LOL Then put in an exchange rate... Think it's costing just shy of $50 US. It's more expensive going back the other way as well.

In other news, the sauce is maturing nicely. I'm a little bit tempted to put it on some ex bourbon oak, but not sure I'll have the volume. might be an idea for a future larger batch that wants to be closer to a Tabasco variant.
kai time!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hoser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 June 2010 at 01:42
Looks dangerously delicious kiwi...thanks for another great postThumbs Up
Go ahead...play with your food!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kiwi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 June 2010 at 19:28
The awesome sauce is all gone. I took the second 500ml bottle to a bbq last night, and it was ALL consumed. People were wanting to BUY some. not used to that result from food experiments Big smileGoing to have to make a bigger batch from purchased chillis. I'll use birdseye chillis I think, found some cheap in a farmers market.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote got14u Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 June 2010 at 11:36
Have you thought about just letting some dry out next time then you can have them all year. Those look just like chile pequins that my father in law had brought here from mexico....good and hot. We would let them dry out and just have a zip lock baggy full of them during winter.....very nice sauce by the way great job !
Jerod

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kiwi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 June 2010 at 19:13
cheers for the tip. It's pretty close to deepest darkest winter here now, and it still seems to be producing at a rate good enough for general cooking (just not big batches of chilli sauce), but I'm thinking that the excess could be frozen easily enough.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 September 2010 at 14:19
My dorm-mate says "awesome sauce" as well Smile I'll have to show her this.

Sounds like it lives up to its name. Do you just eat it with chips, or are there other things you add it to?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kiwi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 September 2010 at 16:07
I add it to everything :) well, almost everything. It made a great spicy sauce for a pizza the other day. Sometimes I'll eat it with cheese on crackers, even. Don't really think I've had it with chips though. Maybe I'll have to get some chips. Down to my last bottle of my second batch at the moment, it has kept very well in sanitized bottles.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 September 2010 at 09:28
Hot sauce and cheese does go very well togetherSmile
I figured chips were the norm because of the picture of the poppadom. Never heard of that name before.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kiwi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 September 2010 at 14:34
Ah. papadam (it's spelt in loads of different ways depending on which part of india) is an indian thingmade out of lentils, chickpeas, rice flour and spices. You can buy them uncooked, and then chuck them in the microwave (of fry them) and they puff up and become crunchy and awesome.
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