Recipe: Sriracha-inspired fresh chile garlic sauce

Learn more about the making of this sauce in my earlier posts, Hot headed: A twist on Homemade Sriracha Sauce, and Hot Headed: DIY Sriracha-inspired fresh chile garlic sauce

A wonderfully balanced crushed raw chile and garlic sauce. Adds punchy fresh flavor and texture to foods that is unlike any store-bought crushed chile garlic sauce I’ve tried, and is so quick and simple to make. It delivers moderate heat and juicy, fruity, fresh chile flavor, a slight bite from fresh garlic, and a harmonious balance of subtle saltiness and sweetness. Try spooning this sauce generously over foods, almost like a salsa. Or directly into your mouth.

Delicious on eggs, noodles, fried rice, spooned over dumplings, in your breakfast burrito, as a garnish for soups or stews, or serve alongside steak.

I prefer the flavor of red jalapeño chiles for their greater complexity of flavor and character. I find that jalapeño peppers, green or red, have a slight astringent quality, making your taste buds and mouth tissues almost pucker, which I really like. Substituting red fresnos or green jalapeños will give you delicious, albeit different, results — red fresnos gave more of a sweet pepper flavor, and green jalapenos lent a slight bitterness, somewhat akin to green bell peppers versus red ones. Feel free to substitute them if you wish. I chose white sugar and white vinegar to let the pure flavor of the chiles and garlic shine.

The great thing about making your own chile sauce is that you can taste the freshest chile flavor of what was grown right in your backyard (either literally or figuratively), and also customize the flavors to your unique tastes.

To source red jalapeño peppers, your best bet would be a local farmer’s market. The heat level of jalapeños can vary quite a bit. You can adjust the heat to your taste by adding more or less of the seeds, or adding in a few pods of a hotter chile pepper variety with the jalapeños. Prime chile pepper season is from July to December in my area. To find them in your area, here is a resource for seasonal availability by state and region of the US.

Makes 1 1/2 cups.