20 November, 2012

Paleo Sriracha

Posted in : Nomnompaleo.com, Paleo, Sauce, Spicy on November 20, 2012 by : wendland99

Paleo Sriracha | Nom Nom Paleo.

 

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This recipe’ll take just 20 minutes of your time, and yield 2¼ cups.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1½ pounds fresh red jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons Paleo-friendly fish sauce (Red Boat!)
• 1½ teaspoons kosher salt

 

This sriracha ain’t just Paleo-friendly — it’s also super-fast. Huy Fong Sriracha is fermented to boost the umami in the fiery red sauce, but I found a way around the weeklong waiting period. I simply added the umami myself, in the form of tomato paste and fish sauce.

Here’s what you do:

First, prep your veggies. (Pro tip: Use gloves when handling the peppers to avoid burning your hands and eyes. I learned the hard way. Argh!)

 

I’ve found that removing the seeds and most of the ribs from the jalapeno peppers produces a sauce of moderate heat, which is my personal preference. If you like to breathe fire and have a Teflon gastrointestinal tract (hello,Charles Mayfield), feel free to keep the ribs and seeds, and/or use hotter peppers (like serranos or even Lumbre peppers).

 

Throw everything into a high-speed blender (like a Vitamix or Blendtec) or aturbocharged food processor.

 

A regular food processor will also work — but you’ll want to cut the peppers and garlic into smaller pieces, and blitz the ingredients longer. Otherwise, your sauce may end up on the chunky side. We tested a batch using a weak littlemini-prep, and the resulting sriracha was noticeably thicker (but still insanely flavorful).

Purée until smooth.

 

Don’t worry about the froth on top — it’ll cook off later.

Pour the purée into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.

 

As soon as it boils, reduce the heat to low and maintain a simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

 

By cooking the sauce, we concentrate and deepen the flavors, and cut the sharpness of the raw garlic.

 

Once the foam subsides, the sauce should be a vibrant red color, and you shouldn’t be able to detect any raw vegetable smell.

 

Taste and adjust for seasoning if necessary.

Transfer the sriracha to a jar (or three) and allow the sauce to cool. You can keep it in the fridge for up to a week.

 

Behold: Paleo Sriracha!

 

I like to keep some ready to go in squeeze bottles, too. You never know when you need a squirt of the stuff, am I right?

 

Sriracha makes everything taste exponentially better — from eggs and burgers to Asian stir-fries and steaming bowls of phở (like the Paleo version in my iPad app!). It may be sacrilege to say this, but sriracha can even punch up your Thanksgiving turkey.

And once you have a big batch of sriracha on hand, you’ll be tempted to incorporate it into everything you make — like Paleo Sriracha Mayo…

 

…and Lazy Devils…

 

…and Spicy Coconut Shrimp.