Make Ahead

Rainbow Sriracha & Chili Paste

March 24, 2011
4
4 Ratings
  • Makes 1 portion each of Sriracha and chilli paste
Author Notes

Whether or not you would consider this Sriracha authentic and Thai remains to be sampled....and since I've never had store-bought Sriracha then you know, this is it for now.

I call in rainbow because of the multitude of coloured chilli peppers which I bought without a recipe in mind - they looked gorgeous. Further research and edamame's winning recipe led me to this....a tale of two sauces in which nothing goes to waste!

Because the different chilli peppers have slightly different flavour profiles, the resulting sauce has a unique flavour.

The leftover mush (once the sweet liquid fire of the pepper sauce is extracted) is fried in oil and makes a chunky, sweet, hot and flavourful paste. Perfect for tossing into some rice, spicing up pulled pork or topping eggs. —Kitchen Butterfly

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Ingredients
  • Rainbow Sriracha sauce
  • 1/2 pound/ 250g Holland/Fresno chiles, washed and stem snipped but leaving crown behind - different colours
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup distilled white vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons palm sugar, or more to taste
  • 2 teaspoons – tablespoons of Thai fish sauce
  • Chilli paste
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 portion leftover chilli mush
  • Fish sauce, to taste
  • Palm sugar, to taste
Directions
  1. Rainbow Sriracha sauce
  2. Cut up the chiles with kitchen scissors, roughly snipping. Place all the ingredients in a jar and let sit overnight, covered.
  3. Place the mixture in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or longer if you’d like a thicker sauce. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. Transfer to a blender and puree for about 5 minutes, until a smooth, orange-red mixture forms.
  4. Pass the mixture through a strainer, pressing out as much liquid as possible. Reserve the leftover chilli mush. Let the liquid stand for a few hours before using to allow the flavors develop and bloom. Then taste it and adjust with salt, sugar, fish sauce or vinegar. Bottle/put the liquid in a jar and use within a month.
  1. Chilli paste
  2. Heat the oil in a small pan and when warm, add the chilli mush. Season to taste with the fish sauce and sugar and stir on medium heat till the sauce is 'fried' and oily.
  3. Remove from heat, let cool and then store in a jar and refrigerate. Use within a month.

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