Homemade Chili-Garlic Sauce
Homemade Chili-Garlic Sauce
from https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/
This is an all-purpose, homemade chili-garlic sauce recipe, much like the Asian Huy Fong chili garlic sauce, but freshly made, without preservatives. Super easy to make, and can be used in many recipes.
4 ounces spicy chili peppers – This works for any pepper of choosing. I used a bunch of Fresno peppers. Use a variety.
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
Salt and pepper
Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth.
Pour the mixture into a small pot and heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Cool and adjust the flavor with salt and pepper to your tastes.
Store in a sealable jar in the refrigerator.
Makes about 1 cup.
Heat Factor: HOT, though it will depend on the peppers used.
Best Fresno pepper alternative: Jalapeño pepper Yes, the ubiquitous jalapeño is your go-to here. In fact, these chilies look so much alike that grocers often mislabel the two in stores. In terms of taste, when they are young and green, the Fresno and the jalapeño have a comparable bright crisp taste and medium heat. The differences come with aging. Fresno peppers tend to become a little hotter, fruitier, and smokier as they turn red. Those are the tastes that some recipes are seeking, so while the jalapeño is your best alternative, it isn’t always perfect. Still, it’s available nearly everywhere produce is sold and the flavors are close enough to cover if time is of the essence.
Sichuan All Purpose Chili Garlic Sauce
from https://omnivorescookbook.com/
30 grams (1 cup) whole dried chili peppers (*see footnote)
15 grams (1 thumb) minced ginger
60 grams (15 cloves) garlic, crushed
1/2 cup peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorn
4 tablespoons spicy fermented bean paste
1 tablespoon sugar
To cook the sauce
Use scissors to cut each chili pepper into 4 to 5 pieces. Prepare ginger and garlic.
Add oil and peppercorn to a wok (or small skillet) and heat over medium heat. When the peppercorns start sizzling, continue cooking for about 2 minutes, until they turn dark brown and you can smell a pungent fragrance. If the oil starts to smoke, turn to lowest heat. Remove the peppercorns with a straining ladle or spatula and discard them.
Add chili peppers and cook over low heat until the color darkens. This will happen very quickly, in less than 1 minute, if you’re using a gas stove.
Add ginger and garlic and give it a quick stir. Add chili bean paste and sugar and continue to cook over low heat until everything is mixed well and you can smell a strong garlicky aroma, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn off heat and transfer everything to a large plate to cool off.
When the sauce has cooled, transfer it to a clean jar. You can store the sauce at room temperature for a month or in the fridge for up to 3 months.
*Depending on the type of chili pepper you’re using, the sauce will have varying levels of spiciness. I prefer to use a less spicy chili pepper, so the sauce will be well balanced and not too spicy. If you’re not sure about the spiciness of the pepper, smell them when you just open the package. If you can smell a strong and pungent aroma, that makes your nose itch, then you should be careful. You can discard the seeds after breaking the peppers. If you don’t smell a very pungent aroma, you can use the whole chili pepper with seeds.
Use the master sauce to cook meat, poultry, and/or vegetables
You can add the chili garlic sauce into any stir fried dish at the end of cooking and mix well. The dish will be infused with a pungent and hot flavor just as in authentic Sichuan dishes.
(option 1) Combine the chili garlic sauce with other ingredients such as soy sauce, black vinegar, Sichuan peppercorn powder, spicy fermented bean paste and / or sugar, and then use as a sauce for stir frying. It will create a lot of authentic Sichuan flavor, like that found in yu xiang (literally “fish fragrant”, practically spicy, sweet, and sour), xiang la (sweet spicy), mapo (savory spicy).
(option 2) You can also add it to oyster sauce or hoisin sauce to spice up a comforting American Chinese dish.
Yield: 16-20
