EPTAs we all know there are two things that measure manliness. The second one of those is ones ability to eat hot food. Everyone knows that when the real man goes to an Indian restaurant with company it is obligatory to order the hottest dish on the menu, even if that will involve screaming, crying, four extra orders of water, leaving half of the food uneaten and spending the following day in horrific agony on the toilet as the tiny amount of food you did manage to eat passes through your rear end.
With this in mind I set about to do the manliest one could possibly ever do. Earlier this summer I started growing my own chillis! I sowed a handful of pots of cayenne peppers and habanero peppers. Sadly I started a bit late which, in combination with the fact that Sweden is not the best suited for chilli growing, I think contributed to the fact that my habaneros turned out quite small. But what they lacked in size they made up for in flavour (I do love the fruity flavour of habaneros) and spiciness!
The last couple of weeks have been harvest time. The first batch, which turned out to be mostly caryennes and a few habaneros, I dried and made a nice chilli powder out of. This second batch I decided to make hot sauce of!
Making the sauce
My idea was to make something that at least partially reminded of the classic Louisiana hot sauce, which is pretty much pepper, vinegar and salt. To this I wanted to add just a little touch of other flavours while still maintaining a somewhat neutral sauce that can go with most things.
I started off by seeding the peppers. This can be done, depending on manliness, with gloves. Naturally I did it without gloves and have regretted it ever since, sometimes your eye just god damn itches. The main reason for removing the seeds is because I wanted the end product as smooth as possible.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/12Js2.jpg)
All chillis where added to a pot together with four chopped cloves of garlic. To this I added about 2dl of cider vinegar, a bit less than 1dl of water, 2 teaspoons of tomato pure, a little bit black pepper, a pinch of paprika and a good bit of salt. I also added in 3 chipotles I had laying around for some smoky flavour. This was all brought to a boil and left to simmer for some time.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/T7JdQ.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BI7yf.jpg)
After having simmered for some amount of time the liquid was quite heavily reduced and all chillis where soft. At this point it all went into the blender and blended until smooth. The texture reminded a bit of ketchup at this point, the smell and taste however didn't. After this it all went back into the pot again.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Z2qou.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5nSH6.jpg)
This is the part where you need to man up, the sauce needs to be tasted. I ended up adding juice from half a lime, some more cider vinegar, some more salt and water to adjust the thickness. I also added a little pinch of sugar to balance the acidity, a little of my home made chilli powder and a habanero powder for extra bite.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Rc9yW.jpg)
At this point all that was left was to quickly heat it back up and then pour it into a bottle! The end result seemed really good, and quite spicy indeed!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Xl2HB.jpg)
I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. Photography is not my strong side.
looks delicious though!
