1/2 Dried Ancho Chile
1 Fresh red Thai Chile
16 Fresh Scotch Bonnet,
- Habanero or Red Savina
- Chilies; preferably
- orange or golden yellow
- unless using the Savinas
1 c Coarse chopped yellow onion
4 lg Cloves garlic; crushed
2 tb Fresh Lemon Juice
2 ts Imitation Rum Extract *
1 c White vinegar
1 ts Dried oregano
Recipe By: Jennifer Trainer Thompson in "Hot Licks"
* You may also use 2 TB dark rum if you have it on hand.
Submerge the ancho in a pot of hot water and soak until
soft, about 20 minutes. Chop ancho finely and reserve.
Roast and peel the Thai chile.
Stem, seed, and finely chop the chile. Stem and seed the
Scotch bonnets, leaving the inner membranes (and, if
desired, a few seeds). Combine the Scotch bonnets with
onion and garlic in a food processor and process until
very finely chopped. Combine lemon juice, rum extract,
and vinegar in a non-reactive pan and bring to a boil.
Pour liquid into processor, add the oregano and Thai
chile, and process lightly. Add the ancho teaspoon by
teaspoon, processing briefly in between, pulsing only
enough to obtain a smooth, sauce, highlighted by red
flecks. (Over processing or adding too much ancho will
result in a redder sauce, which is also quite beautiful.)
Refrigerated, this sauce will keep 6 weeks. 2 cups.
Serving Ideas : Curtis sez: Try this on blackeye peas for
a great snack!
NOTES : This recipe has the basic ingredients of a
Caribbean hot sauce, although the Scotch bonnet peppers
appear in extremis for those who care about flavor but
can't get enough heat. The recipe is not named after the
Navy fighter plane that starred in Desert Storm, but
after the sixteen chilies that create a heat storm of their
own in this sauce. In other words, this is a sauce for
chileheads whose predictable reaction to all hot sauce
is, "oh, it wasn't that hot," because the F-16 takes no
prisoners.
Though many Caribbean sauces feature one chile type, I
also used an ancho and a fresh red chile; I like the
fuller tones of the ancho, and the red chile adds a
lingering heat to the hit-and-run Scotch bonnet. Perhaps
just as important, the red chile contributes brilliant
crimson flecks to an otherwise golden sauce, which I like
to think of as little warning flags signalling the red-hot
heat to come.
CHILE-HEADS ARCHIVES From the Chile-Heads recipe list.
