Habanero hot sauce

Well I had to do something with them all...

After scouring the internet for recipe ideas for hot sauces I decided I wanted to try two types - one that used raw chillies and one that roasted the chillies.

Well, at least one of them was good.

The first recipe I tried basically blended habaneros, garlic, vinegar, water, oregano, sugar and salt.
I followed the recipe and got, well, habanero water. It was so watery and was simply liquid with specks of habaneros and oregano. I did still taste it despite the look and pungent aroma. It was not good. It was not good at all.

This is the before. The after was not much better.

Recipe number two surely had to be better. I found it on the net and it was entitled "The best spicy habanero hot sauce recipe". That said it all really. It must be good.

I altered it slightly, so these are the ingredients I ended up using:

• 20 habaneros
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp oregano

Method:

• Gut the habaneros - this means taking out all the placenta and the seeds (a rather lengthy process and one for which you MUST wear gloves).
• Peel the garlic cloves and cut them into quarters.
• Place the habaneros and garlic on an oven tray and rub a bit of olive oil over them.

• Put them in an oven preheated to 180°C and roast until golden brown - about 20 minutes.

• Once they have cooled down blend together with the rest of the ingredients.

This sauce was perfect. It was everything I wanted.

A lot of the sauce recipes I saw used carrots and onions to bulk them out - I guess to try and take away from the sheer heat of the chillies but I didn't want a thick sauce; I wanted more of a Tabasco sauce consistency that you can put a few drop of on eggs, on kebabs, in sauces, on nachos etc...

This sauce was delicious when first blended but was so much better the next day. It is nice and hot but is so tasty. I am stoked and will make this many times again. It went well in a cool tall bottle I had and as I am saving for a house at the mo, guess what people are getting for presents this year...