La Jiao Jiang - Hot Chili Sauce
Use any fresh, red hot chile pepper for this recipe! We used cherry bomb peppers, which are just about as spicy as jalapeños. These are easily confused for pimentos, though, since they have similar features. Pimentos don’t have any heat to them, so don’t make that mistake if you decide to make this sauce with cherry bombs, too. We used Kosher Salt for this recipe, because it's extraordinarily good at sticking to surfaces, so there's an even, tasty salt base throughout this sauce.
Rice vinegar is the more traditional vinegar to use with this type of cuisine, but you could easily replace this with white wine or champagne vinegar. This is a no-cook recipe, so throw all the ingredients together into a jar and let the ingredients mingle. The flavor will continue to develop, and the mixture will become more homogeneous overnight. After the sauce has come together and the sauce is at peak flavor, it can be kept in a sealed jar in the fridge for several weeks. This hot sauce can go on anything from rice to veggie burgers, on anything that you're looking to add a spicy kick to. Some of our taste testers tried it out on wraps and thought it was perfect for those. Try it on rice or even on corn on the cob!
- 1 pound hot red chile peppers (such as jalapeno, Fresno, cayenne, Thai or a mixture)
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Roasted Granulated Garlic
- 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- Remove stems and cut peppers into small pieces.
- Place peppers (including bell pepper) in a food processor and process until it’s a paste.
- In a bowl, add peppers, vinegar, salt, and garlic and mix well.
- Pour chile sauce in a glass jar and place lid loosely on top. Let sit at room temperature for a day. Then, seal tightly and store in refrigerator up to several weeks.
