Everything You Want To Know About Making Chilli Sauces
In this section I intend to present you with the best recipes for all sorts of chilli sauces that as I find 'em.
Chipotles en Adobo
West Australian Beer Marinade
Char Siu - Chinese BBQ Sauce
Chipotles en Adobo
makes 3 cups
An authentic chipotles in adobo sauce adapted from one I saw once published by the queen of Mexican cooking, Diana Kennedy.
Most of the chipotles in adobo that you buy now are in a tomato-based sauce rather than a true adobo made primarily from ancho chillies. If you're prepared to do it, the difference justifies the effort.
- 115g chipotles
- 3 anchos, de-seeded & de-veined
- 1.5 cups water
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 bay leaf, torn into pieces
- 0.5 teasp dried thyme
- 0.5 teasp dried marjoram
- 0.25 teasp cummin seeds, crushed
- 2 tablsp olive oil
- 0.75 cup malt vinegar
- 0.75 cup white wine vinegar
- 60g dark brown sugar
- 1 tablsp sea salt
Pierce each chipotle with a sharp skewer and put them into a saucepan with a tight lid, cover with water, and cook over medium-low heat until tender but not mushy (30-40 minutes). Discard the water and get rid of any stray seeds and pith/vein.
While thats happening, put the anchos in a small pan and cover with hot water and simmer for 5 minutes. The drain them and put them into a food processor with 1 cup water and blend well.
Add the marjoram, thyme, garlic, cummin, bay leaf, and 4 of the cooked chipotles. Blend well.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the blended paste, and fry for about 3 minutes over a medium heat, scaping the bottom of the pan to avoid scorching. Add the remaining 0.5 cup water, both vinegars, brown sugar, and salt and cook for another 5-6 minutes.
Then add the rest of the chipotles and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes, scaping the bottom of the pan to avoid burning, until the sauce has thickened - approx 15 minutes.
Let the mixture cool and store in the fridge for 2 weeks before using to allow the flavour to develop. With the high vinegar content this sauce should keep in the fridge for about 6 weeks in an airtight container.
West Australian Beer Marinade
makes 2 cups
- 1 cup of your favourite beer
- 4 shallots, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 8 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 jalapeño chiles, deseeds and chopped
- 1 bunch coriander, chopped
- ¼ cup light soy sauce
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablsp black pepper
- juice of 1 large blood orange
- juice of 3 limes
Blend all the ingredients in your food processor until you have a smooth liquid with no significant chunks of anything.
This is a great marinade for beef and chicken, but really works it's magic on gamier meats such as lamb, turkey, kangaroo, venison and goat.
Char Siu - Chinese Barbecue Sauce
Both palm sugar and fermented red bean curd are easily obtained from asian grocery stores.
- 1 tblsp oyster sauce
- 1 tblsp fermented red bean curd
- 1 tblsp palm sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 0.5 teasp minced fresh ginger
- 2 tblsp hoi sin sauce
- 0.5 tsp chinese 5 spice
- 2 tblsp rice wine
- 2 birds eye chillies, seeded and finely chopped (or any other small, asian chilli)
Mix all the ingredients together until evenly blended. Use all at once or keep the remainder in the fridge for about 2 weeks.
Use to make Chinese Red Pork or any other ideas you come up with.
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