Jalapeño Sauce
Australia Note – this is entirely doable in Oz. The main problem I find is that Coles and Woolworth’s are unable to keep jalapeños in stock (Woolie’s is slightly more reliable). The secondary problem is that pepper heat varies wildly in Australian jalapeños. If you find a bunch of mild jalapeños, roast them and freeze them and later pretend they are anaheim or poblanos.
This recipe was developed a few years ago in Austin and originally appeared on my lame-ass website http://www.jaybones.com/recipes
For Roasting:
4 Large fleshy Jalapeno peppers
Other Ingredients
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup vegetable oil
coarse sea salt, to taste
This sauce is inspired by the Doña sauce at Tacodeli on Spyglass Lane in South Austin. The food at tacodeli is great, but it’s really just an excuse to eat Doña sauce. I did a little research on the web and found some recipes that got close to this wonderful, rich and spicy pepper sauce, and just kept at it until I got something I like. It’s not exactly Doña, but I like it as much, and vive le difference!
As always, wash and rinse the vegetables. Don’t start me on my dystopian view of the future of our foodchain.
OK, this is the trick. I’ve been roasting vegetables in my lame electric oven for a while, and it will do the trick, but the roasting happens unevenly, and the flavor is pretty neutral.
Roasting on the charcoal grill is ideal, but that takes forever. My gas grill was killed by Lucy the Crazy Dog, who chewed through its hoses one summer day.
The point is that you need flame to really blister the skin off of peppers. I saw the proprietor of Boggy Creek Farm roast chiles this way, and I’ve had a hankering to do it ever since:
Enter The Propane Torch:
Yes, you can still use your gas grill, or charcoal grill, or broiler, to roast chiles in your time-honored and preferred fashion. But you just can’t beat this for thrills. Also, if the Alien comes to your house, you can scare it out of your ventilation ducts with this baby.
Next, into the ziploc to steam until they cool, as always.
Then, wearing gloves, as always when handling peppers, just rinse them and rub the blackened skin off.
After, and Before…
Next, halve and seed the peppers. These are all the ingredients there are!
Pop everything into the blender and let ‘er rip. Put the garlic clove in first. I start with a couple of tablespoons of oil and drizzle it in until the blender has enough liquid to process. Don’t get it too runny. Add some salt, to taste. Less than a half-teaspoon for this lot, probably.
Mmmm!
Wow, I finally found another Doña recipe online at foodista. They roast the garlic though, which I find to be too sweet, and which is probably why they have to add vinegar. I have a hard time putting rice wine vinegar in this, it just feels so wrong.
It’s difficult to get Jalepeppies in Sydney?!? Mind blowing/numbing. Perhaps you could give growing your own a try… even apartment dwellers could do the Two-Bucket approach and I’d hope it would work really well – see Global Buckets site for more details http://www.globalbuckets.org/. More info on actual growing in Oz here: http://www.chillies-down-under.com/growing-chillies-pt1.html
Yep, I’ve got some plants growing in the yard! But not enough to quench my insatiable need for chiles!
Hey Jay! I’m an Aussie transplant living in Austin! (Ok, I moved when I was ~2yo but still..)
I’ve been experimenting with making my own Salsa Doña using yours as a starting point. Although I agree “difference is good,” I’ve been trying to get the consistency closer to theirs. Have you had any luck making yours super smooth? Puree and blend as I may (using a blender, not food processor), I can’t seem to get the consistency smooth. I wonder if I need to add something fatty or dairy (sour cream? yogurt?) to make it happen.
I’ve been loving on this sauce on it’s own and also paired with sour cream which is why I thought of adding it to the mix.
FYI. I took your advice and got a handheld propane burner and it’s way better than using the oven. I mean, c’mon.. Playing with fire and all! (also, when I used the oven to roast, it cooked the peppers which made them way to hot and the salsa was almost inedible.
Hey Dan, sorry for the delayed reply – the spam comments are quite overwhelming.
I have a badass waring bar blender, and I get super creamy results. You need to remove the seeds from the chiles, and if you’re getting garlic chunks you might consider roasting them as well, although I think the carmelized garlic makes the sauce too sweet. You can also try heating the oil a little bit.
Ha! I just now saw the salsa recipe on this website — I originally saw it on your “lameass” website. Regardless — Dan, I believe the problem you are having is, indeed, related to your blender. I used to have a terrible Oster that could not make a substance smooth if it life depended on it. But I just got a Waring from Goodwill and bought replacement parts for it and WOW! I have never had a blender that works that well. We did a trial run with daiquiris, and they were completely smooth. I can’t wait to give this a shot!
I tried making this, and although I like the consistency and heat, the raw garlic flavor is offputting. I think if I try it again I’ll try using garlic powder or roast the garlic first.
John, I’ve also noticed that garlic can vary wildly in strength… definitely tune it to your taste.