A hot sauce full of secrets

My chilli sauce. The black smoky tea lends its flavour and a fake charred look. The dark soy sauce gives the sauce a deep brown colour.

I’ve been making this hot sauce from chillies I’ve grown myself for years now… time to share.

Components:

• red hot chilli peppers¹

• fresh tomatoes

• garlic

• vinegar (any kind, but sherry works well)

• salt; pepper

Sometimes I’ll add:

• thick tomato paste (for taste or thickening)

• red bell pepper

Blend them all.

The proportions vary on taste, experimentation, and what’s available. My batches never come out the same since there are variations on the fleshiness and ripeness of the tomatoes and the type of chillies.

So now to my secret ingredients “they don’t want you to know about”.

• Smoky tea

I had the idea of adding smoky tea (Lapsang souchong, for example) since I wanted to fake the smokiness of other sauces without the effort. I normally use roughly the contents of two teabags (for a batch the size of a large jar), letting it marinate in the liquids of the sauce for a while before blending it together. It provides the smoky flavour, of course, but also bits of black ‘char’ that looks great.

Then, finally:

• Dark soy sauce

Dark soy is a rich, slightly sweet, sauce that embodies the liquefied darkness of a black hole. A few drops of the stuff elevates the pale red-brown concoction to a shiny, deep, brown colour. It’s magical stuff that I also use for darkening minced meat for tacos and other dishes when they lack colour. Start by putting a lot less than you think is needed!

I’ve now fewer secrets.

1. Chilli is the British spelling, which I (try to) use in my writing. The band uses Chili, correctly, as they are from the US. A pun that needs explaining; oh well :-/