Hungarian Rhapsody hot sauce

posted in: Food | 0

This isn’t about quantum computing, but I’m attending a virtual barbecue next week and so I thought I would post it.
Photo of jars and a bottle
Quantity made: Roughly 1 pint
Spiciness: Mild to medium, depending on the peppers you use

Ingredients

12 Hungarian wax peppers
1 1/4 cups of apple cider or white vinegar
4 large cloves of roughly chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of roughly chopped ginger
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of brown sugar (optional)

Directions

  1. Strongly consider wearing plastic gloves when handling the peppers. Do not touch your eyes!
  2. Cut off the very top section of each pepper that includes the stem. Cut each pepper in half lengthwise. Remove the inner ribs and seeds if you want to reduce the heat of the final sauce. Cut each piece in half horizontally.
  3. Add the peppers, the vinegar, the salt, and the sugar to a small saucepan for which you have a cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes.
  4. Remove the cover, add the garlic and ginger, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes longer. The sauce will reduce slightly.
  5. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature or for at least 20 minutes.
  6. Transfer the cooked mixture to a blender and pulse until liquefied
  7. At this point you can transfer to a 2 cup Mason jar and refrigerate. If you want a thinner sauce, force the sauce through a wire mesh sieve and then bottle.
  8. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours before using.

Notes

  1. In my experience, the sauce.will mellow and become less vinegary and less hot as it sits in the refrigerator over the first 48 hours.
  2. You will get a different sauce if you use different peppers, but you could, for example, substitute jalapeño peppers for one or more of the Hungarian wax peppers.
  3. Hungarian wax peppers vary tremendously in how hot they are. If you try the sauce and it is too hot, re-sample in 48 hours as mentioned above.
  4. Increase the amounts of garlic or ginger if you want those flavors to dominate more.