Chilli Sauce: known as Spicy Sauce in our house, and a permanent fixture in the fridge. Due to the fantastic weather we’ve had (until the snow arrived on Sunday), the chillies have stayed on the plants.
It takes about an hour to make, and the sieving at the end is quite a challenge. It is, however, a fantastic thing to have in the fridge. This recipe features ginger and garlic. They don’t overpower the flavour, but add depth—ditto the apples, which act as a base and flavour carrier.
I used cayenne chillies and a couple of the classic Greek banana chilli peppers. You don’t need to deseed the chillies. They add a little texture, and most of the seeds are lost when you sieve the sauce. Adapt the recipe accordingly, making it smoother or spicier to suit your taste.
It is really tempting to melt the onions and chillies in olive oil before adding the vinegar, which I confess to having done in previous batches. However, it is not advised as oil can introduce botulinum toxin. So, no olive oil is used in the process.
To sterilise my jars, I run them through the dishwasher on the hottest programme, but that is not always convenient if the dishwasher is not full. Below is a link to a simple boiling method. The BBC Good Food website recommends thoroughly washing the jars and lids – turning them upside down wet onto a baking tray, and putting them in the oven at 160 -180 degrees C for 15 minutes.
For more delicious sauces, visit our dips and sauces pages.
Chilli Sauce
Ingredients
- 300 g fresh red chillies finely chopped and de-seeded if you want a milder smoother sauce – I used the cayenne varitiety of chilli together with a few banana chilli peppers but use whatever is available and is the right level of spice for you
- 200 g apples – the ideal is half sweet and half cooking peeled, cored and chopped
- 300 g chopped red onions
- 5 cloves garlic – grated or sliced
- 5 cm piece of ginger finely sliced (optional)
- 1 tsp green peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 360 ml distilled white vinegar – minimum 5° acidity
- 1½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Sterilise the jars or bottles.
- Gently soften the chillies and onions in about quarter of of the vinegar together with the peppercorns, garlic, ginger and mustard seeds.
- Add the apples and salt and the rest of the vinegar. Heat very gently, stirring until the mixture boils.
- Turn down the heat and simmer for approximately 45 minutes, adding more vinegar if it becomes too dry before the vegetables have had a chance to soften. You can then gently reduce it a little until the sauce has slightly thickened but is still saucy. Add more or less vinegar depending on how pourable you want it to be.
- Whizz the sauce with a handheld mixer or in a food processor and then immediately press the mixture through a sieve – fine enough to stop all the bits but also big enough to extract the sauce. Pack immediately into your sterilised jars while still hot. See notes for tips.
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