Ayana’s Roasted Poblano Hot Sauce
Ayana loves hot sauce. The first time I went over to her house, when we first met, I was astounded by the collection of hot sauce bottles in her fridge. There must have been fifteen of them. By way of explanation, she introduced me to the show Hot Ones. If you haven’t seen it, the premise is that the host interviews a celebrity while they eat a series of chicken wings coated in ever spicier hot sauces. By the end, it is pretty brutal, and you can really watch their camera-ready persona dissolve. I can tell you from experience that these sauces are no joke, as we have put together a few of our own ‘hot ones challenges’ over the years.
I made up this recipe for roasted poblano hot sauce for Ayana as a present for our first Xmas. I only made a few jars at the time, but it turned out so good that we’ve had to make several more batches since then.
It is a relatively simple recipe which yields a delicious, bright hot sauce with a variable heat level (you decide how many habaneros). Beyond that, it provides a framework from which you can experiment with lots of different flavors. The base of carrot, onion, garlic, and cilantro adds body, sweetness, and complexity, and creates a canvas on which you can play with all sorts of peppers and flavoring agents.
So, check it out and try making your own! It’s also great for those of you that don’t like spicy food so much, as you can take the reins on how exactly how much heat you want in your hot sauce, while still maintaining lots of flavor.
Ayana’s Roasted Poblano Hot Sauce
Ingredients:
Boiled:
1 carrot
¼ white onion
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup cilantro leaves and stems
2 cups water
Roasted:
2 poblano peppers
Added Raw:
4 habanero peppers
2 serrano peppers
Juice of 1 lime
¾ c white vinegar
Directions:
Begin by boiling the carrot, onion, garlic, and cilantro in 2 cups of water until they are soft. Reserve the broth.
At the same time, roast the poblano peppers until blistered on all sides. When blistered and lightly charred, remove from heat and extract seeds, stems, and as much of the skin as you can.
Add the solids from the boil and the roasted peppers to a blender. Toss in the habaneros, serranos, lime juice, vinegar, salt, and ½ cup of the broth. Puree until smooth and store in jars or old hot sauce bottles. This will keep in the refrigerator a very long time, with the flavor mellowing and sweetening as time passes.
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