bowl, combine the chiles, crackers, walnuts, cheese, vegetable oil, onion, garlic, eggs, and shrimp and mix well to make a thick paste. Drizzle in milk as needed and use a potato masher to transform the paste into a thick sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Salsa de Mani (Hot and Spicy Peanut Sauce)
Yield: 2 cups (473 mL)
Heat Scale: Medium
This sauce is commonly served over potatoes in Ecuador. The amount of chile in the recipe can be adjusted to be mild or wild, as you wish. This side dish would add spice to any meat or seafood dish for a truly exotic dinner.
½ cup (118 mL) peanuts
¼ cup (59 mL) cream
¼ cup (59 mL) milk
⅓ cup (79 mL) peanut oil
¼ teaspoon (1.25 mL) salt
¼ teaspoon (1.25 mL) freshly ground black pepper
1½ teaspoons (7.5 mL) aji chile powder (or substitute piquin or cayenne)
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
½ cup (118 mL) grated goat cheese or crumbled feta cheese
1. Place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend on high speed for a few seconds, or until smooth.
2. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Do not boil. Serve the sauce over hot cooked potatoes.
Môlho Malagueta (Malagueta Sauce)
Yield: Enough to fill 1 (708 mL) wine bottle
Heat Scale: Hot
Here is a basic Brazilian hot sauce featuring malagueta chiles. It is simple and powerful, and it can be added to any recipe (except desserts) to spice it up. You’ll need an empty 708 mL wine bottle, washed in boiling water and dried, with its cork, to make this sauce. (Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.)
1 cup (236 mL) fresh or dried malagueta chiles (or substitute tabascos or piquins), stems removed, left whole
708 mL wine bottle
1 cup (236 mL) distilled white vinegar
1¼ cups (295 mL) olive oil, or enough to fill the wine bottle
1. Place the chiles in the wine bottle. Add the vinegar and olive oil and stopper the bottle securely.
2. Place the bottle in the refrigerator and let the chiles steep for at least 2 weeks, shaking the bottle whenever you think about it. Shake well before using.
Môlho de Pimenta e Limao (Hot Pepper Sauce with Lime)
Yield: ¾ cup (177 mL)
Heat Scale: Hot
This hot sauce from Pernambuco is commonly served in a small dish at Brazilian meals to spice up such dishes as feijoada and seafood stews. It features the malagueta pepper, that close relative of the tabasco pepper.
6 fresh malagueta chiles (or substitute piquins), stems and seeds removed, minced
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) salt
½ cup (118 mL) lemon or lime juice
1. Combine all the ingredients and allow to sit at room temperature for 2 hours to blend all the flavors.
Variation
Make a paste by puréeing the peppers, garlic, onion, and salt in a blender. Add the lemon or lime juice and stir well.
Môlho de Acaraj (Chile-Shrimp Sauce)
Yield: About ¾ cup (177 mL)
Heat Scale: Hot
This Brazilian sauce is traditionally served over black-eyed pea fritters (acaraj, called accra in the West Indies), but it can also be spread over other bland foods, such as potatoes. It has an intense shrimp flavor and high heat. It is traditionally made with dende, palm oil, but I have substituted an oil with less saturated fat.
6 large shrimp, cooked, shelled, deveined, and mashed
1 onion, peeled and minced
5 fresh malagueta chiles, stems and seeds removed, minced (or substitute tabascos, Thais, or piquins)
½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) salt
3 tablespoons (45 mL) vegetable oil, or more if needed
1. With a mortar and pestle, crush together the shrimps, onion, chiles, and salt to make a paste.
2. In a sauté pan, heat the oil over high heat. Add the paste and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Variation
Add 1 teaspoon (5 mL) minced cilantro and ½ teaspoon (2.5 mL) ground ginger to the paste.
Belizean Habanero Sauce
Yield: 1 cup (236 mL)
Heat Scale: Extremely Hot
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