mild bam! sauce

Would you like something like Tabasco sauce made with fresh green chiles, but even more flavorful?

If you don’t like a RAW onion and garlic flavor, this is the hot sauce for you!

• as many hot chilis as you want – jalapenos, tabascos, habaneros, just depends what you like – the original recipe called for 20 tabascos, which are teeny-tiny and mild, so make sure to use way less than 20 if using anything hotter than a jalapeno. I probably used about 5 jalapenos and 3 serranos, and it came out quite mild, so adjust to your liking.
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
• 3/4 teaspoons salt salt to taste (1/2t or less for my tastes, more if you plan to store it long-term)
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups water (note: this will create a very watery hot sauce, so maybe start with a cup and add more if necessary)
• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
  
  Combine the peppers, garlic, onions, salt and oil in a nonreactive saucepan over high heat. Saute for 3 minutes. Add the water and continue to cook, stirring often, for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to steep until mixture comes to room temperature. In a food processor, puree the mixture for 15 seconds, or until smooth. With the food processor running, pour the vinegar through the feed tube in a steady stream. Pour into a sterilized pint jar or bottle and secure with an airtight lid. Refrigerate. Let age at least two weeks before using. Can be stored in the refrigerator up to 6 months.

recipe adapted by friedsig, original recipe by Emeril

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I have posted hot sauce recipes before. My favorite hot sauce had always been a “throw whatever you have in the house” pick-and-mix. I’d throw in anything from leftover roasted carrots or butternut squash, to fruit (can’t beat fresh peaches), to sweet peppers. The past few years, I’ve been doing a simple pineapple hot sauce – just raw garlic and/or onion, a can of pineapple (in juice, not syrup – just a personal preference,) and a fistful of peppers. Sometimes I give it a “jerk seasoning” kick with some allspice and thyme. It doesn’t go with everything, but it’s perfect alongside some pastelles, callaloo, or soup joumou!

Although I’m addicted to sweet hot sauce, this stuff really surprised me. It’s not super complex, so it compliments a wider variety of foods. It’s surprisingly basic – just what you’d expect from a Cajun-style hot sauce – but a thousand times more delicious than Crystal and the other bottled hot sauces in Cajun country. Definitely my new go-to all-purpose hot sauce! I’ve made two batches in the past month…

This is the very first Emeril recipe ever posted here… a weird “first”. Bam? Well, it’s an obnoxious name, but I wanted to make sure not to confuse this simmered hot sauce with the everyday blended raw hot sauce. Benefits to cooking it include a longer shelf life (six months!), a more mild flavor (if that’s a benefit for you…), and also a smoother blended hot sauce if you have a cheap blender (I do!) that hates chopping raw garlic, haha. It’s a very Emeril recipe – a bit neutered if you’re used to the fiery heat of la jiao jiang (hot pepper oil), but surprisingly good for how easy it is.

Also, a FANTASTIC way to use your freezer full of frozen garden chilis from last August!

Batches #1 and #2 are really good. This recipe is also infinitely adaptable. Add sweet peppers to the mix, caramelized onions or roasted garlic, or even leftover roasted carrots! Let me know if you alter this in any way! A perfect first hot sauce if you’ve never tried to make it yourself before!

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cacik (cooling turkish cucumber and yogurt)

A hot weather, no-cook, quick, light, and cooling vegetarian side.

Think of it like raita without cilantro and cumin.

PERFECT for cooling down something that is a little too spicy. Just serve a small bowl as a side dish!

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2 cups plain yogurt
1 cup water
4 Persian cucumbers or mini cucumbers
a half-clove to 3 cloves garlic, minced FINELY
1/4 t to 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
1 1/2 tsp dried mint, or to taste
a drizzle of olive oil

Whisk the yogurt in a large bowl to make sure it’s smooth. Add water to the yogurt and whisk until it’s completely incorporated.
Grate the cucumbers in another bowl and if they’re too watery, squeeze out the excess water. If they’re not too watery, add the directly to the yogurt and water.
Mix well and add garlic, salt and dried mint. Taste and add more salt if needed.
Don’t heat or cook this. Just chill cacik in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.
To serve, divide it between 4 bowls and top each with a little bit of olive oil.

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Recipe by Unicorns in the Kitchen and adapted just a bit by friedsig

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A great cooling raw sauce for anything super spicy, or even mild Turkish meals, anything from veg kofte to roasted chicken.

If you don’t like raw garlic, 3 cloves will be way too many. Even a half of a giant clove was quite a bit.

The neutral flavor is a bonus in the sense that it can go with foods that you would never pair with a middle Eastern appetizer, especially if you reduce the mint. I ate some with Sichuan style deep fried fish that got almost too spicy to eat overnight as it steeped in hot chili oil. The yogurt and cucumber and mint added such a cooling, fresh flavor to the way-too-spicy fish. I highly recommend the unusual combo of super spicy Asian food with this cacik!

Not something you would find yourself eating for a whole meal, like any other yogurt sauce. Just a perfect simple and cooling sauce to help use up your midsummer cucumber harvest.

Note: I recommend delicate Persian cucumbers for this. My coworker gave me two enormous heirloom cucumbers that had grown a bit woody and chewy. It did impact the texture of the cacik, even when grated.

laghataq (vegan eggplant, tomato, and pepper dip from afghanistan)

one whole eggplant
one red bell pepper
2 medium tomatoes

2 cloves garlic
1 T whole cumin seed
1 T whole coriander seed
1 t paprika
pinch of garlic powder

1 T tomato paste
1 small can tomato sauce
olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

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preheat oven to 300

roast eggplant whole on 425 in skin. strip and discard some skin and anything burnt, and slice eggplant into rounds. place on baking sheet in one layer.

separately, toast coriander and cumin in dry frying pan. grind. grab your blender and add the ground cumin/coriander, a small can of tomato sauce, 1 T tomato paste, 2 whole cloves garlic, lots of olive oil (to taste,) and a pinch of garlic powder.

back to the baking sheet. layer sliced pepper and tomatoes on top of eggplant. top with sauce.

bake 1.5 to 2 hrs, or until eggplant is soft.

let eggplant cool. add everything to blender and pulse until chunky but not pureed.

top with plain, unsweetened yogurt with a little garlic powder and salt mixed in.

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recipe adapted from Humaira’s recipe at Afghan Culture Unveiled – adaptation by friedsig

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This was a little disappointing. I felt it could really benefit from lemon juice or vinegar, or something else acidic to cut the bitterness of the eggplant and the tinned tomato sauce flavor. I cut the tomato sauce from a regular can to a small can because I’m trying to eat low-sodium now, and added a bit more olive oil. Hard to imagine this dish with any more tomato sauce – it was extremely tomatoey. It tasted more like a mildly seasoned spaghetti sauce than a dip or an eggplant dish. I used a good quality Palestinian olive oil, but if you only have supermarket olive oil, you may want to skip this recipe, as a ton of the flavor comes from the olive oil. I also cut the cumin and coriander from a tablespoon of ground spices to a tablespoon of whole spices toasted and then ground, because it seemed a bit excessive, but maybe using the whole amount would help cut some of the aluminum can flavor.

Reminds me a lot of Mughlai-style eggplant from India, but lighter without the ghee and heavy cream.

My other tomato paste and eggplant recipe is Georgian-style eggplant stuffed with carrots and parsnips, but laghataq is less sweet without the carrots and parsnips. I think I’d still recommend the Georgian-style dish over this one if you wanted something healthy and interesting and very different from a tomato sauce. You could also serve as a dip with fresh pita, crackers, raw carrots and other veggies, or whatever you like – but I far preferred this as a tomato sauce than as a dip. For my tastes, this laghataq is not exactly a dip. However, if you are looking for a really unique spaghetti sauce, or a tomato sauce to eat with grits, or something to flavor white beans or okra, or something different for an egg dish like shakshouka, or something to freeze and bring down for chicken parmigiana, try this laghataq!

currant and clove reduction pan sauce

Nothing like an autumnal pan sauce! This recipe disappeared from “new scandinavian cooking” – but thanks to the wayback machine at archive.org, it still lives on! This is a version I am making up, because I don’t have the blackberry syrup called for in the original recipe.

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meat, like chicken or steak
1 cup stock or broth
4 cloves
1 star anise
currants (or blackberry jam or syrup)
splash of red wine (optional)
lemon juice
butter
salt and pepper

1. Cook meat in a heavy-bottomed pan.

2. Add stock to pan and scrape out the solidified stock in the bottom with a spatula (unless it is burnt – if so you should make the sauce in a clean pan).

3. Add cloves and star anise, and reduce by two thirds over high heat. (Taste the stock as you go. Remove the spices if they start to give off to much flavor).

4. Stir in some currants and red wine, and let simmer until currants are soft. Add lemon juice and remove from heat. Whisk in 1 tablespoon butter.

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recipe adapted by friedsig – original recipe by “new scandinavian cooking” and accessible via the wayback machine

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edit 10/2018 – definitely worth making. this was great with chicken, but it might be even better with a beef roast. these flavors are so great together that maybe even vegans should try making a pan sauce with blackberry or blueberry jam, veggie stock or broth, a star anise, cloves, and some lemon juice. wouldn’t that taste great served alongside some perfectly roasted brussels sprouts?

chinese sesame paste dressing

trying to get some vegetables back into my diet… salads last week with marinated mushrooms and balsamic vinaigrette were great, so this week maybe i’ll toss some cucumbers and radishes in this for lunch.

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this recipe is from the book phoenix claws and jade trees by kian lam kho

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2 T chinese toasted sesame paste* + 2 T water
1 t toasted sesame oil
1 t chile oil (optional)
1 t white rice vinegar
1 large clove or 2 small cloves garlic
1/2 t salt
1/2 t sugar

stir together and let sit at least ten minutes before using

* = i don’t have this but omnivore’s cookbook suggested 1 part tahini, 1 part peanut butter, and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil as a substitution

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modified from the highly recommended cookbook phoenix claws and jade trees by kian lam kho

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fantastic – fast and easy peanut sauce with a great sesame flavor

abdoogh khiar (5-minute cold cucumber yogurt soup)

Looking for a very healthy and very fast snack to add to a healthy meal? Maybe you have the heat cranked up and you’re pretending it’s summer. Maybe you just have something summery to celebrate. Maybe you worked up a sweat shoveling snow, and you want to cool off. Or maybe you need something cold and refreshing to enjoy with a spicy, hearty stew.

This Persian cold soup, from aashpazi, looks like a delicious variation of an Indian raita!

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Just dice 2 cucumbers into 1/2 cup shredded walnuts, a ton of fresh herbs (they recommend tarragon, mint, basil, and chives, but whatever you have in the house will be good,) and 1/4 c raisins. Stir in 2 cups of yogurt and 6-8 ice cubes, with water if you prefer. Season with salt and pepper. Top with dried mint and rose leaves. (or not.)

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adapted from aashpazi… check out the photos of the rose petals on top!

goan coconut sauce

Another great recipe from tarladalal! This recipe is for a paste from Goa, in India. You can thin it into a sauce for veggies, fish, meat, or whatever you can imagine!

2 whole medium sized onions (unpeeled)
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp poppy seeds (khus-khus)
26 mm (1″) cinnamon (dalchini)
3 cloves (laung / lavang)
4 black peppercorns (kalimirch)
2 tsp whole coriander (dhania) seeds
3 whole dry kashmiri red chillies, broken into pieces
3/4 cup freshly grated coconut
7 to 8 cloves of garlic

Roast the onions on a open flame till they turn black in colour. Cool, peel, discard the blackened/ charred layer and slice the onions. Keep aside.
Heat the oil in a kadhai, add the poppy seeds, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, coriander seeds and red chillies, mix well and sauté on a medium flame for 5 minutes.
Add the coconut and sauté on a medium flame for another minute. Keep aside to cool.
Combine the above mixture, sliced onions and the garlic and blend in a mixer to a smooth paste, using ½ cup of water.

Use this gravy on the same day to make recipes of your choice.
Don’t use fresh coconut if you want to freeze the leftovers. Instead, cool the gravy completely, add 1 tsp vinegar and mix well. Pour in food-grade zip lock bags or airtight containers and freeze. While making vegetables using the stored gravy, thaw and use it as per the recipe. Towards the end, add 2 tbsp coconut milk instead of freshly grated coconut.

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adapted from tarladalal

doubles

this is the quintessential trinidadian street food.

savory, sweet, hot, filling, and wonderful.

doubles consist of two (hence the name) flat pieces of fry-bread called BARA filled with a chickpea mixture.

it is also agreed throughout the recipes i checked out that the chickpeas and bara themselves are not the sweet, spicy, and sour flavor doubles are known for. this flavor comes from the condiments. see below for toppings!

it is the kind of street food that people in trinidad don’t really cook at home (source) but if you have a craving like i do, you can try to make it at home.
the doubles i got at trini-gul in a west indian neighborhood in brooklyn were one of the best foods i’ve ever had in my entire life.

i hope to make them at home and have them taste even half as good.

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bara

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 T baking powder
1 teaspoon yeast
1/3 cup warm water
1/4 tsp sugar
Oil for frying

place warm water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl until foamy.

knead ingredients together until dough is smooth.

pour a bit of oil over the top, cover the bowl with a kitchen towel, and rest until dough doubles.

oil or wet your hands – dough is sticky. make two-inch balls. flatten to the size of your hand.

fry, at about forty seconds per side or until puffy and done.

adapted from trini gourmet, simply trini cooking, and chennette

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chickpeas

heat 1 T oil in a heavy bottomed pot or pan. add a chopped onion. when soft, add 1 t curry powder, 1 t turmeric, three cloves of garlic minced, 2 t ground cumin, 2 t salt, 1 t pepper, 5 leaves chadon beni (bandhania/culantro/long cilantro, or substitute cilantro,) and 1 t trinidadian pepper sauce. stir-fry until fragrant. add 2 c chickpeas and a cup of water. simmer until chickpeas are soft.

adapted from trini gourmet, simply trini cooking, amazing trinidad, and chennette.

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you MUST top with grated or preserved cucumbers or cucumber chutney, mango kuchela (trinidadian sweet&sour chutney,) and tamarind sauce to get that flavor!

mango salsa

put part of a jalapeno, part of an onion (scallions, green onions, wild leeks, red onions – can’t go wrong here,) and some roasted garlic (raw if you prefer) into the food processor (to taste)

add lime juice and a lot of cilantro

add two mangoes and a sweet red or orange bell pepper

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serve with absolutely everything on earth

especially

fish
chicken
tofu
pork
veggies
salads
chips
and literally everything else

today’s teriyaki chicken wings go well with it. so does tomorrow’s fish cake. even burgers can be made magical by this sweet and sour hot sauce.

blend it completely as a marinade, or leave it chunky as a salsa for dipping.

cranberry sauce with red wine and figs

water as needed
1 splash – 1 cup of red wine
half a packet of dried figs (about 10-12)
a half-cup to a cup of fresh, frozen, or dried cranberries, cherries, and whatever else you have
just a bit of fresh orange zest, orange juice, or candied orange
one quick squeeze of a fresh lemon
a pinch powdered allspice or cinnamon
a t apple cider or red wine vinegar
if you need a sweetener, use whatever you like – honey, sugar, etc.

bring to a boil and simmer until sweet and tender. continue adding water, as the figs will soak up a lot of liquid.

if you prefer it thicker, add a pinch of potato starch or corn starch.

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modified from david lebowitz‘s version