The Explosion of Chilli Sauce

Left:Chillies in Oil Centre: Regular Chilli Sauce Right: Green Tabasco

Over the weekend I was given about 3kg of assorted chillies from my neighbour who grows tons of them. I had already made some chilli sauce last year but I had given a bit away to friends and had obviously used quite a bit in my own meals - so was close to running out. I love using chilli in almost all of my dishes and used to buy chilli flakes - no more! I have a few plants on the property but I never have enough bulk to make up sauces. So I was thankful to have a fair amount to try different styles.

The Green Tabasco Sauce

First I thought I would make a green chilli sauce - like a green tabasco sauce. I spent 20minutes deseeding and removing the tops. Then I boiled them up in vinegar and sugar. No measurements just to taste. I now wear rubber gloves because the first time I made sauce I made the mistake of scratching before washing my hands - OUCH!

Once the sauce was cooked I poured the mixture into my blender. The blender was filled almost to the top but I thought I could get away with still blending the whole thing in one go. The top lifted a little after the first pulse which was a little scary but I thought I would risk another pulse of the blender. BAD Mistake - the whole top came off and the chilli sauce sprayed the kitchen - cover the windows, toaster, oven and floor in green goo. It took sometime to clean that mess up. But I used the sauce that night as a marinade for some chicken and sprayed some lime juice on just before BBQing the chicken. It tasted wonderful.

Chilli Sauce

I've made this before. Just deseed the chillies. Heat a pot with sesame seed oil put in the chillies and add sugar - chinese vinegar, and white vinegar. Once cooked blend and put in sterilised jars and insure the jar is filled to the top. Using the sesame seed oil gives it a nuttier taste.

Roasted Thai Chillies in Oil


Now this is a little tricker. I've investigated that chillies stored in oil can go off within a month because the oil doesn't stop the bacteria. So I roasted the chillies in the oven - then while they were still hot packed them into a jar and added some lemon juice and then poured olive oil into the jar to the top. You have to make sure there is no air left in the jar - so a knife down the side of the jar helps.

Apart from the mess I should have a great year of using the chillies. And all it cost me was my own time, some oil, vinegar, and sugar. Plus my sanity cleaning green sauce off everything.