While sweets are a nice way to bring joy on the holidays, sometimes it’s nice to spice things up! If you’re giving gifts from your kitchen this year, consider making your own hot sauce. It’s a great gift idea for those who a) love spicy food b) don’t have a sweet tooth c) are over the sweet stuff (watching what they eat or just ate too many cookies at all the other parties) or d) all of the above. Hot sauce is usually a welcome addition to the potluck and makes a great gift for a host or hostess, too.
This year, I’ve made my own hot sauce based on the numerous do-it-yourself srirarcha recipes out there. In my house, we love things extra fiery, so I’ve used a liberal amount of habañeros. But if you’re gifting to less extreme spice eaters, than stick to using all jalapeños or even mixing in some bell peppers.
What You Need:
1/2 lb. of peppers (any combination of habañeros, jalapeños or bell peppers)
4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup water
What to Do:
Use gloves if you need are not used to working with peppers. Make sure that your kitchen has some ventilations going as well – there will be capsaicin in the air. You may need to turn on your microwave fan or bring in a freestanding one depending on your level of sensitivity.
Roughly chop the peppers, removing the stems. Remove the seeds if you wish to keep the spice level to medium. I used 4 ounces of habañeros and 4 ounces of jalapeños, keeping in all the seeds. Put the chopped peppers, vinegars, soy sauce and water into a pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool
Once everything has cooled a bit, blend everything together in the blender, adding water if the mixture is too thick. Pour the contents back into the pot and let the sauce reduce to about half. Let the sauce cool again and then blend again on low. You can strain the mixture before blending or leave the seeds in – your choice. I like the texture a bit chunkier so I left them in. Fill into a sterilized jar and refrigerate for up to 30 days.
Currently based out of Boston, Jesal is a blogger, freelance writer, yoga enthusiast and lifelong vegetarian who spent four years eating her way through New York City and various other cities around the globe. After answering hundreds of emails and phone calls answering the question, "Where's a cool place I can take my vegetarian friend out to eat" she started Veggiewala to efficiently share her knowledge of the vegetarian food scene with curious carnivores, flexitarians and other vegetarians.