The Hot Sauce Cookbook (14 page)

2½ cups chopped shallots (about 8 shallots)

4 large garlic cloves, chopped

4 lemongrass stalks (trimmed with tough outer leaves removed), thinly sliced

2 tablespoons tamarind pulp

2 tablespoons minced peeled galangal (substitute ginger, if necessary)

¾ cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon salt

10 fresh Red Thai chiles (or substitute cayenne chiles), stemmed

3 large red serrano chiles, stemmed and minced

1 cup chopped tomatoes

¼ cup vegetable oil

Juice of 3 limes

Combine all the ingredients in a mortar and grind into a fine paste. Or use a blender or food processor to purée all ingredients into a paste. Pour the ground mixture into a saucepan and cook very slowly over low heat until a little oil rises to the surface, about 10 minutes. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Eggplant Sambal:
Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a wok or skillet and stir-fry 4 cups of unpeeled eggplant cubes over high heat until browned, about 3 minutes. Add a few teaspoons of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, cover, and cook for a few more minutes over low heat, just until tender. Add 1 cup sambal, toss to coat, and serve over rice.

Telor Belado:
Peel four hard-boiled eggs. Fry in small skillet filled with ½ inch of hot oil over high heat, turning once or twice, until a skin develops, about three to five minutes. Serve the eggs in a bowl with ½ cup sambal poured over top. Or substitute a dozen quail eggs for the chicken eggs and serve as a shared appetizer.

Sajoer Boontje:
Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok or skillet over high heat and stir-fry 1 onion, chopped. When the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes, add 1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths. Cook until the beans are a bright green, about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup sambal and ½ cup coconut milk. Cook for another few minutes, tossing to coat the beans with the sambal.

GREEN CURRY PASTE

———
Makes 1 cup
———

Thailand absorbed much of its early culinary culture from Indonesia, but Indian culture and cuisine have also had a particularly strong influence since the arrival of Buddhism in the third century. Thai curries were inspired by Indian curries, but they were made with coconut milk instead of ghee and yogurt since Thailand lacked dairy products. Fresh herbs were also much more prevalent in Thai curries, especially in green ones like this.   
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Use this spicy curry paste to make
Green Curry Shrimp
or
Raj Dixit’s Green Curry Chow-Chow
.

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground

1 teaspoon white peppercorns, toasted and ground

1 clove garlic

3 shallots

1 bunch scallions, trimmed

3 stalks lemongrass (trimmed with tough outer leaves removed), minced

1 tablespoon minced, peeled galangal

10 kaffir lime leaves

Stems from 1 bunch cilantro

20 fresh green Thai chiles (or substitute 5 serranos), or to taste

Grind all the ingredients in a mortar into a fine paste, or purée at high speed in a blender, adding a little water to get the blades moving. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

GREEN CURRY SHRIMP

———
Makes 6 servings
———

Thai curries are soupier than Indian curries and generally the fresh chiles make them a lot hotter. The bright flavors of the herbs and green chiles are a natural combination with fresh seafood. I like to make this curry extremely spicy—the heat slows me down so I savor every bite.

2 tablespoons peanut oil

¼ cup
Green Curry Paste
, or to taste

6 green Thai chiles, or to taste

2 cups diced eggplant (1-inch dice)

4 kaffir lime leaves

3 stalks lemongrass (trimmed with tough outer leaves removed), very thinly sliced

1½ cups coconut milk

1 pound fresh large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce, such as Squid brand

36 fresh basil leaves

Hot steamed rice

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat and add the curry paste, stirring until the curry is dissolved and bubbly. Add the chiles, eggplant, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and coconut milk and stir. Cook until the eggplant is soft, 4 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook until they just begin to curl, 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the size. Mix in the fish sauce.

To serve, divide the curry among six bowls, garnish each with 6 fresh basil leaves, and serve with steamed rice on the side.

BERBERE

———
Makes about ½ cup powder or 2 cups paste
———

Award-winning chef Marcus Samuelsson was born in Ethiopia and now operates Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem. His cooking has put berbere, Ethiopia’s complex pepper and spice mix, in the spotlight.   
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Ethiopians always keep some of the powdered version on hand so they can whip up berbere paste whenever they want. Berbere paste is made by sautéing the powder with onions, garlic, paprika, and liquids. Grind your own spices
as described
.

Berbere Powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon fenugreek

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon ground allspice

20 dried crushed chile pequín pods, 10 dried crushed chiles de árbol, or ¼ cup New Mexican chile powder

Berbere Paste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

3 tablespoons dry red wine

1 cup paprika

Berbere Powder

1½ cups water

To make the powder, combine all the powder ingredients and store in a sealed canister in a cool, dry place for up to several months.

To make the paste, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the onion until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook until soft, 1 minute. Add the wine, paprika, and about ½ cup berbere powder. Add the water and stir until well combined. Cool the mixture, transfer to a blender, and purée into a smooth paste. Use as a condiment or to make Ethiopian wat dishes.

Doro Wat

DORO WAT

———
Serves 4
———

Known as the Ethiopian national dish,
doro wat
is the most popular traditional food in that country. It is often eaten from a communal bowl with each diner using
injera
bread to scoop out a portion.

¼ cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons salt, plus more as needed

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)

3 cups chopped onions

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon peeled, minced fresh ginger (½-inch piece)

Water (optional)

¼ cup butter

2 tablespoons paprika

1 cup
berbere paste

¾ cup chicken stock

¼ cup red wine

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

Injera bread or hot cooked rice, to serve

Combine the lemon juice and salt in a large, nonreactive mixing bowl and stir until slightly dissolved. Add the chicken thighs, one at a time, dipping both sides of each piece in the marinade to coat. Cover and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating, purée the onions, garlic, and ginger in a food processor or blender. Add a little water, if necessary, to get the blades moving.

Heat the butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat and stir in the paprika to color the oil. Stir in the berbere paste and cook for 3 minutes, until heated through. Add the onion mixture and sauté until most of the moisture evaporates and the mixture reduces, about 15 minutes.

Pour in the stock and wine, add cayenne to taste, and season with salt and pepper. Remove the chicken from the lemon juice and discard the marinade. Add the chicken to the pot and cover with sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through. Add water, if necessary, to maintain the liquid level.

Add the whole hard-boiled eggs and continue to cook until the chicken is very tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning and serve hot with injera bread or rice.

Sik Sik Wat:
Substitute cubes of beef stew meat for the chicken and cook until tender, which can take up to 45 minutes.

Zucchini Wat:
Omit the chicken. Cut 2 pounds of zucchini or summer squash into cubes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

Grinding Spices

When making berbere, curry powder, or other dry spice mixes, grind your own spices. The flavor will be fresher and more intense. I prefer to toast cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, cardamom pods, and peppercorns separately in a hot, dry skillet until fragrant, as some spices take longer than others. After they cool, use a either a mortar and pestle or a propeller grinder, like the kind you use for coffee, to powder the toasted spices. (If you use the same grinder for coffee and spices, clean it out by grinding a little cornmeal before switching uses.)

PIRI-PIRI SAUCE

———
Makes 2 small portions
———

Peppers were introduced to the Portuguese colonies of Africa shortly after the first voyage of Columbus. They quickly began to thrive in the wild and were spread across Africa by birds.
Piri-piri
,
peri-peri
, and
pili-pili
are various written versions of a Swahili term that literally means “pepper pepper.” These are all names for the chile known as the African bird’s eye pepper in English. The small pointed chile is a cultivar of
Capsicum frutescens
, the same species as Tabasco peppers. It grows in Malawi, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. It is also found growing wild in the jungles of Sudan.
Piri-piri
sauce is an important part of Portuguese cooking and the hybrid African-Portuguese cusines of Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa.   
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Portugalla restaurant in Houston makes their
piri-piri
sauce fresh to order, and serves it in a Chinese soup spoon for presentation. They use red or yellow Thai peppers instead of African bird peppers, but red chile pequíns work well, too. Serve the sauce with African dishes or as a condiment for grilled chicken.

¼ cup red bird’s eye chiles, chile pequíns, or fresh red Thai chiles

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ teaspoon minced garlic

½ teaspoon minced fresh peeled ginger

Pinch of salt