Chillis for chilli sauce

Chillis for chilli sauce, originally uploaded by beFOODled.

My colleague JC had such a bumper crop of hot chillis this fall that she had to give some away. So me and another colleague took home some jalapenos, long reds and habaneros, a relative of the hottest chilli ever, the Scotch bonnet. We each made a version of Anna Olsen's chilli sauce and had an impromptu chilli tasting at the office. JC used one habarnero and hers was nice and mild. Mine probably averaged about three chillis and was at times a bit too hot for me. I also made the mistake of touching the habaneros while I was cooking and my hand throbbed for about 10 hours.

I roasted my chillis, but I left them in the oven too long. Most of the long red ones were completely charred and I was only able to salvage a few strips of the others. But wow, did my chilli sauce ever sizzle! A little habanero goes a long way. The first thing I taste is the lovely mild celery flavour and then ... POW!

Chilli Sauce
recipe adapted from Anna Olsen's chilli sauce

I made about two-thirds of her recipe and it gave me about a litre of sauce. Instead of using banana peppers, I used two habaneros (my estimate of what I salvaged from the oven), a jalapeno and a long red chilli pepper. I also used cider vinegar instead of white and simmered mine for about an hour. Anna Olsen canned her extra portions, but I froze mine instead.