Heather Thomas - The Hot Sauce Cookbook: 60 Fiery Recipes

HOT SAUCE ADDICTS THIS WAY

No longer relegated to the side of the plate, hot sauce is now the star of the show!

Dive into this cookbook for fantastically fiery dishes including Chilli-fried eggs, Hot Sauce Buffalo Wings, Sriracha Buttered Shrimp, Harissa Chicken Shawarma Wraps, Crunchy Thai Salad, and even sweet treats like Chilli Chocolate Brownies and Mexican Hot Chocolate for die-hard hot sauce addicts.

Heather Thomas is a health and cookery writer and editor who has worked with all the major slimming organisations in the UK, including Slimming Magazine, Slimming Clubs, Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Rosemary Conley, LighterLife, Scottish Slimmers, Unislim, Cambridge Weight Plan and Tesco Diets. She is the author of The Avocado Cookbook (Ebury, 2016) and The Chickpea Cookbook (Ebury, 2017), The Sweet Potato Cookbook (Ebury 2017), The Hot Sauce Cookbook (Ebury 2018).

Heather has worked with many top chefs, nutritionists and womens health organisations and charities, and has contributed to health and food magazines in the UK and the United States. She practises what she preaches and eats a very healthy diet and stays slim and fit.

Hot sauces are now increasingly popular as more and more people become interested in eating a more varied diet and exploring different world cuisines. Consequently, new types of hot sauces are emerging all the time and there are literally hundreds available, if you include all the regional and artisanal brands as well as the ubiquitous well-known ones.

Hot chilli-based sauces have always played a starring role in Asian, Mexican, Caribbean and Middle Eastern cooking, but now that our taste buds are developing a hankering for spice, they are featuring more prominently in traditional Western dishes, too, as well as being used as a condiment. In the United States, these sauces have such popularity that there are even hot sauce festivals that attract thousands of aficionados, who gather to taste the latest varieties and discover new brands. Once a fringe ethnic food, hot sauces are now hitting the mainstream and most of us have at least one bottle in our kitchen cupboard.

Hot sauces vary in their flavour, colour, texture and intensity of heat, depending on which chilli peppers are used to make them and how they are combined with other ingredients. However, they all contain three essential elements: chillies, vinegar and salt. Sugar, spices, herbs, garlic, tomatoes, vegetables and thickening agents may be added to this holy trinity. Flavourings and colourings are sometimes exotic, as in the case of rose harissa, which incorporates crushed rose petals and rose water.

This book celebrates the diversity of hot sauces, capturing the flavours and cultures of their countries of origin. The recipes feature fiery crimson harissa paste from the Levant and North Africa, Thai sweet chilli and Sriracha sauces, West Indian hot pepper sauces, Jamaican jerk sauce, Portuguese and southern African piri piri sauce, South American aji, Mexican Cholula, jalapeo and smoky chipotle chilli sauces, Indonesian sambal oelek, Chinese Szechuan spicy plum sauce and Japanese wasabi, as well as red and green Tabasco from America.

Sriracha is a good example of a hot sauce that has taken off from its humble beginnings in a Thai seaside village to become a global phenomenon. The spread of street food stalls and markets and food and music festivals, as well as the new breed of food bloggers, have helped hot sauces go viral and develop a cult following. Like many other hot sauces that are now mainstream, the appeal of Sriracha lies in its versatility. It has reached out from being solely a condiment in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants to flavouring cookies, cakes and desserts as well as savoury dishes.

In this book we have recipes for hot sauces that you can make from scratch at home, ranging from tomato chilli jam for enhancing cheese and cold meats to unusual variations on harissa, including rose harissa and a green version flavoured with herbs. You can learn how easy it is to cook your own sweet chilli sauce or even Sriracha, and youll also find hot and spicy salad dressings, salsas, dipping sauces and marinades.

The delicious recipes feature snacks, desserts and drinks as well as breakfasts and brunches, salads and supper dishes. There are old favourites as well as some exciting and innovative dishes from around the world, including Jamaican jerk chicken and stamp and go fritters, Mexican burritos, harissa chicken shawarma wraps and a Peruvian quinoa brunch with aji.

Hot sauces are more than just a food, they reveal how cultures can fuse and connect. Even though countries in different parts of the world have their own interpretations, we can all relate to the basic ingredients of chillies, salt and vinegar. Theres something very personal, pleasurable and almost spiritual about these three elements they can transform our mood as well as our palate. So whether you want to just add heat to a soup or spice up a cake or loaf of bread, our hot sauce recipes will show you how.

Use these sweet and spicy hot sauces for dipping spring rolls, wontons, dim-sum and appetizers, or drizzle them over crabcakes or rice and noodles. They will stimulate your taste buds and enhance your meal.

MAKES: APPROX. 60ML/2FL OZ ( CUP) | PREP: 5 MINUTES

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar

2 tbsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

juice of 1 lime

2 fresh red birds eye chillies, thinly sliced

2 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced

1 Put the water and sugar in a bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves.

2 Stir in the remaining ingredients and then transfer to a serving bowl.

Add a little chopped coriander (cilantro).

Add some diced cucumber or shredded carrot.

Add stalk lemongrass, outer peel removed and finely diced.

MAKES: APPROX. 150ML/5FL OZ ( CUP) | PREP: 10 MINUTES | COOK: 5 MINUTES

4 tbsp water

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

3 tbsp white sugar, preferably caster (superfine)

1 small carrot, peeled and cut into thin shreds

grated zest and juice of 1 small lime

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp light soy sauce

handful of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped

2 fresh red chillies, finely diced

1 Put the water, rice vinegar, nam pla and sugar in a small saucepan. Set over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.