Jamaican 'Knee Jerk' Chilli Sauce

I got the basics of this sauce from some ideas I found online and adapted it to use the ingredients I already had, to both improve the colour and to reduce the consistency slightly as the resulting recipe seemed to make the sauce too thick.  Following your intuition can sometimes provide better results than following a recipe, but make sure you write down what you did so you can make it again if it is really nice (are you listening Scooby?!).

 

I'm very pleased with the results on this one.  This might be the tastiest hot chilli sauce I've ever had, but it's early days and we have lots more chillies to use and ideas to try.  This sauce has many layers of tastes and depths of flavours, and smells amazing from the moment the chillies start to roast and just improves from there.  Taste wise it starts with a fruity mango and apple sharpness rising to an intense black pepper twang on the tip of the tongue, then plateaus to leave most of the heat and a deep caramel flavour.  But that's just what we think.  Caution is advised as a tiny dollop on the small end of a teaspoon is enough to start my facial sauna.  Scooby rates this as a 7 or 8 on the 'Scoobville Scale' (for more information on this watch out for the next post!).

 

Jamaican 'Knee Jerk' Chilli Sauce

 

100g Jamaican Jerk peppers 
(or Scotch Bonnet)

10g whole garlic cloves

20g dark brown sugar
(we used molasses sugar)

20g salt

5g mustard powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tsp cornflour

200ml apple cider vinegar

50ml passata

 

 

1.  Start by roasting the whole chillies and garlic on a lightly oiled baking tray for 20-25 minutes at 200 degrees C.  They should be nicely browned/caramelised in places.  Allow to cool slightly.

 

2.  Put on some clean plastic/latex gloves and de-stalk the chillies, removing the seeds and pith (unless you want maximum heat in which case leave them in). 

 

3.  Roughly chop the chillies and squeeze out the roasted garlic from its skin and place in a pan.

 

4.  Add all the other ingredients to the pan and mix well. 

 

5.  Bring up to heat and simmer for 5 minutes,  stirring to prevent sticking and to make sure the sugar has dissolved fully.

 

6.  Allow to cool and then blend to a smooth consistency before bottling into a clean, sterile container of your choice.

 

Enjoy (in moderation)!