Fermented Chilli Sauce
Yield: 250ml
Prep time: 10-15 mins
Total time: 7 days to 3 weeks fermentation time
Ingredients
Fresh Chillies | 200g *use any sort you fancy
Garlic | 1 clove
Water | 250ml/1 cup *preferably filtered
Salt | 15g
Coriander seeds | 4-6
Mustard seeds | 4-6
Directions
Remove the tops from your chillies, slice them in half lengthways or you can chop them into large rings. Place the chillies into your jar, a tight fit is good and leave about 2cm space from the top of the jar, also place your garlic and seeds in at this point.
Dissolve your salt into the water, the water can be slightly warm if you like, pour that salty brine into your jar and make sure you cover the chillies.
Place weight over the chillies to make sure they remain submerged, this could be a glass weight, a clean and sterile stone/pebble – whatever you have as long as it’s very clean. Seal the jar (make sure you release pressure every now and then if you are not using an airlock, just try and gently unscrew the jar and release air, don’t take the lid off at all if you can, we are looking to release carbon dioxide but not let oxygen in. Keep the jar at room temp and let that baby ferment away.
Now it becomes a taste thing, you can ferment for 5 days, 1 week, 3weeks – totally up to you and your taste buds. Once you are done with the ferment, spoon the solid ingredients into a blender, blitz away adding the brine from the jar as required, making the sauce as thick or thin as you like, blend til smooth and then strain through a sieve then bottle or jar (clean one of course!). You have just made Hot Chilli Sauce, bravo – you are a fermenter! Store it in the fridge and you are done, well, until next time, this fermenting and preserving stuff, it’s addictive.
Special Information
You don’t need special fermentation equipment here – all you need is a sterile glass jar with a lid and something to weigh the chillies down with so the chillies remain covered in brine, if you have access to a Fowler/ Mason/Preserving jar with an airlock, then great but if not, you’ll be fine, just remember to slightly burp your jar to release the build-up of pressure. Any clean and sterile jar with a tight fitting lid will work.
Just remember that this beautiful sauce that you have just made is alive, yep, it’s real and full of probiotics and will continue to ferment, the fermenting process will slow down whilst in the fridge but you are now consuming a living food, bloody beautiful!
