You’ve been following along, so you know I can’t get enough spice in my food. Eggs, Japanese yams, they all get the same warmth from a splash of hot sauce.
I love the chili-garlic flavor that explodes out of the Sriracha bottle, but I must admit I cringe a little every time I reluctantly glance at the label. Specifically, my gut gets twisted over a single ingredient. Sugar. Even with the relatively innocuous amount, I hate the idea that my favorite hot stuff is sweetened with a substance intentionally left off of my approved items list.
When I’m engulfed in a love affair with a product but despise an ingredient, I make my own. I solved my sugar dilemma by substituting blueberries and maple syrup in place of the dreaded white crystals. Boom.
Here’s the recipe should you like to recreate a batch in your kitchen.
- ¼ pound hot red peppers of choice
- ¼ pound jalapeno peppers (any color)
- ½ pound sweet or bell peppers (color will contribute to the final product’s shade, I used multi-colored)
- 7 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/3 cup organic, white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- handful of blueberries
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- Add all ingredients into your blender. Blend until you reach the desired consistency; I prefer mine smooth and thicker.
- Pour the blended sauce into a pan and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 11 minutes.
- Remove from heat, taste and salt if desired.
- Pour finished product into a glass jar and store in the fridge.
Your sauce should be glorious, as is mine, for a couple of weeks when refrigerated.
Let me know how it turns out,
Kap
Chris says
Who is your buddy whistling in the background?
Gabe Kapler says
That’s my ex-wife Lisa’s little statue thingy. Thanks for reading, Chris.
chrismarkdavis says
Love sriracha! Never tried my hand at making it but definitely giving it a shot this week. Thanks Kap!
Gabe Kapler says
Please let me know how it goes, Chris. And thanks very much for reading.
James Cusick says
This blog is awesome! I’m loving your posts. Such a wide range of information…all of it interesting.
Gabe Kapler says
Thanks, James. Much appreciated.
Paul says
Neat recipe, but may I ask what other hot sauces you like to use? I love hot sauce, but I doubt I’d use enough in a couple weeks’ time to make this recipe worthwhile. Right now, I’m using a lot of Trader Joe’s jalapeño sauce, which has three ingredients: jalapeños, vinegar, salt.
Gabe Kapler says
That sounds great, Paul. I love just about every hot sauce imaginable, frankly. Probably because I like the flavor of hot peppers and vinegar. Can’t go wrong. Is your hot sauce from TJs organic?
pineyfusion says
Never thought I’d see someone put maple syrup in their sriacha other than myself, even though my experience is more that I was doing some mad scientist experimenting with stuff I can put on my salmon and mixed the two together. It was surprisingly delicious.