~ How to Make Hot Chili Sauce ~

My dad finally got around to making the hot sauce. I think it's becoming an annual tradition. We had a very good crop of chili this year so we ended up with a lot of hot sauce. There's really no recipe. Every time he makes it, it's different. This year, he used:

• red chili
• garlic
• fermented black beans
• rice wine
  
• salt
• oil

Step 1: Prep the chili's and garlic
Take off the stems from the chili. Sun dry them a little bit. Then, skin gloves of garlic and cut off the bottom hard part. Garlic to chili ratio is about 1 to 5.


Step 2: Chop up the chilis and garlic
You can chop them yourself if you are not making a lot. Chopping gives it a more solid texture, less mushiness. But since we had so much, we decided to use our blender. If you plan on chopping it yourself, make sure you wear gloves. These babies will give you a nice burn. Cold water, ice, cold milk, aloe gel and rubbing alcohol will only provide temporary relieve.



See how mushy it is? Let me tell you that it took a lot of time to soak and wash this blender to get rid of the garlic smell. So, don't use your juice blender for this. Unless you want a lil kick in your juice.


Step 3: Mix in salt
He totally eyeballed this. I think he used about 2 table spoon for this huge bowl of chili.


Step 4: Put the mixture in a glass jar and mix in the wine
This is crucial. This rice wine is as strong as hard liquor. It's not your mom's rice wine that she splashes into her dishes. This is hard core stuff.


Put enough to cover the mixture and add a little more.


Step 5: Wait...
Leave it in a dark corner (or your pantry) for 2 weeks.
Image of chili clock from Etsy shop SpareTime. Click on the image to go to the listing.



Step 6: Mix with chopped fermeted black beans
Or whatever you want to mix in. Examples are dried shrimp, dried scallop, and fried scallions. Try and have fun. I am guessing that anything that spoils easily shouldn't be put in this mixture.

Step 7: Cook in oil
Put the mixture in a big wok. Put a lot of oil. The oil should be about 1/2 inch above the mixture. Once it starts boiling, put it in medium/low heat. Stir occasionally. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Make sure you open your windows and doors and turn on the fan. This is going to make your house smell really spicy. May make the kids cough.


Step 8: Wait...
Wait for it to cool so you can pack it up.


Step 8: Jar it up!
We have all these glass jars from pasta sauce, store bought hot sauce and even baby food. Comes in handy at a time like this.


This batch is not as hot as last year's batch. I couldn't even eat last year's sauce! Just the oil was enough to burn my lips. But, this one is acceptable. And it has such a nice red color. I love seeing the results of our hard work! Ok, it was mostly my dad's hard work. I am very proud of him :)