Raw Fermented Sriracha - Thai Chili Sauce

Did you know that eating capsaicin-containing foods like chili sauce releases endorphins? That means it makes you happy! More specifically, chilli peppers have been implicated as possibly relieving pain, suppressing appetite (thus aiding weight loss), and aiding the prevention of prostate cancer.

I wrote before about making a quick cooked Sriracha-style sauce. It is tasty, but lacks the probiotic benefits and complex flavor of a naturally fermented chili sauce. Though this fermented condiment can ripen for over two weeks, the actual man-hours is less than or equal to that of the "quick" cooked sauce that can be prepared in a day or two.

Bottled sriracha (pickles in background)

I'm a little obsessed with this sauce. I open it up just to smell it and bask in it's beauty. My sriracha is intensely red. It has a deep warm flavor without the eye-watering sharpness of its raw ingredients. The taste is complex, arriving in waves of fruity heat with a sense of savory indulgence.

First I'll tell you how I make it, then I'll tell you how I use it.

Shakshouka

I never understood what the big deal was with shakshouka - a tradition middle eastern dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. It seems like a staple on every breakfast buffet, from the watery sauce to the over-cooked eggs.

Then my friend Tzippy took me to Shvil Izzim restaurant. We shared (among other things) the best shakshuka I've ever had. Sweet bell peppers in a flavorful sauce with fresh tomatoes and not too much spice. And the eggs! Not the baked-to-death eggs I'd experienced in my previous shakshouka history. Delicate, gently poached, with rich, runny yolks!  And, of course, fresh bread to soak up all that rich tomato-y goodness. (See my post on Shvil Izzim and my photo restaurant review on Facebook.)

When I saw heaping piles of brightly colored, inexpensive peppers on sale, I immediately had an itch to recreate this traditional dish.  Shakshuka is the perfect nonrecipe meal. You make it how you like it. I didn't use a recipe and I didn't have an Israeli (or Algerian or Tunisian) grandma to teach me how to make it. But whatever I did, it was yummy AND EASY!

Kitchen Disasters: Sweet Peppers and Toast

I was looking forward to telling you about my perfect shakshuka. Eggs sunny side up, simmered or baked in a tomato based sauce, usually a little spicy, usually with sweet peppers.

It all started when I saw some beautiful, long, red peppers at the supermarket last week. I was nervous to touch them, so I picked them up with plastic. The sign said "Sweet peppers." I sniffed. Didn't smell anything sharp, so I bought a few. I also saw some beautiful orange bell peppers. So I decided to buy what I needed to make shakshuka. I grabbed another bag and used it to pick up what looked sort of like a banana pepper.

Roasted Pepper and Olive Dip PLUS Purim Baskets

One of the mitzvot (commandments) of the Jewish Holiday of Purim is to give gifts of food (at least two types of food) called "mishloach manot" or "Shalach Manos."  There is an idea that it should be ready to eat food that can be enjoyed for the festive Purim meal. However, the most popular gifts are candy and cookies. I just moved my oven and fridge into my new kitchen yesterday (I'll post details of my kitchen renovation on Sunday.) so I had a last minute idea to make dips and give them with a pack of crackers. I also made a few packages of nonperishable packages for unexpected visitors, because the dips didn't stretch as far as I expected.

Each package had three of the following:
- Roasted chickpeas (recipe to come)
- Eggplant & Tehina/tehini
- Avocado salad with tomatoes and garlic
- Roasted bell pepper dip with olives and roasted garlic (instructions below)


1.Wash bell peppers and take excess paper off garlic.  Cut and seed peppers if desired. Alternatively, you can roast them whole, flip them half way through and seed them when you peel them.

2. Roast until the peppers are very soft and the tops are black.

3. Remove skin when they are cool enough to handle and squeeze a few cloves of garlic out of the skin.


4. Hand chop a little bit of the peppers and a few olives to top the dip.