Chili Paste made with Rocoto Peppers
A few things make these peppers (Capsicum pubescens) unique and distinguishable.
1) The plant is identifiable by its hairy leaves.
2) The peppers have beautiful matte black seeds.
3) These peppers are much meatier and juicier than most hot chilies, almost like a tiny bell pepper which makes them great for making paste.
Scoville heat of the Rocoto pepper ranges between 2,400 and 250,000. This batch that I picked up were very hot, definitely closer to the 250,000 end of the spectrum.
I was going for a sweet, hot sauce, unaware of hot these peppers actually are, and ended up making a very very hot paste.
I’m actually really happy with how it all went down because in this process I learned the art and fun of making chili sauce from chili paste, which has now become my new favorite spicy condiment.
Ingredients:
12 Rocoto Peppers
2 Red Bell Peppers
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2-1 Tbsp Pink Himalayan Salt
12 oz water
Makes one 12 oz jar of very hot paste.
Broil the rocoto peppers until they started to blacken slightly at the tips.
While the rocotos are broiling, dry toast the red bell peppers in pan on the stove with half a teaspoon pink salt until lightly blackened.
Once the bell peppers are toasted, added 4 oz of water every five minutes to the pan, steaming and sauteeing until the peppers are soft and somewhat caramelized. I repeated this process twice and on the second time added in the broiled rocoto peppers and another half teaspoon of salt.
When the water is cooked off and the peppers are thoroughly cooked, softened, and lightly caramelized, remove from heat and cool for 20 minutes.
Once cooled, use a blender or food processor to blend the peppers with apple cider vinegar and salt to taste.
This paste was pretty hot, so it was hard to tell if the paste was salty enough…
and that is actually what prompted me to add apple cider vinegar. I don’t like vinegar-y hot sauces, but the vinegar here was not overpowering and only helped to bring out the saltiness, or rather, bring it up to a noticeable level.
I have a pretty high heat tolerance and like a good hot sauce, but this paste was hot enough to deactivate my tasting ability (lol). I couldn’t taste my delicious tacos with this stuff on it, so I made chili sauce to dilute it, and I was very happy with that!
The awesome thing about turning chili paste into chili sauce is that you can dilute the paste to any heat level you like, making it versatile for different palates. Another awesome thing about chili paste as opposed to hot sauce is that it lasts way longer than a mere bottle of hot sauce would have lasted me for about the same cost, and the chili sauces I was making from this paste were unique and adaptable for different meals.
If you feel creative you can add fresh, minced herbs to your chili sauce, or fresh minced garlic and onion. You can add some fruit puree. You can add anything!
My go-to chili sauce measurements lately have been:
2 Tbsp chili paste
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp sour mandarin juice
To make Chili Sauce:
Depending on your desired heat level you can do a 1:2:2 ratio, a 1:1:1 ratio, a 2:1:1 ratio or even hotter if you like!
My favorite is the 1:1:1 for this specific paste.
1 part chili paste
1 part brown sugar
1 part sour citrus (I use sour mandarins because that’s what we grow here, but you can use lemons or limes. If you love raw vinegar, you can use your favorite raw vinegar)
