Red pepper paste
October 7, 2013 • Category: Condiments
Can anybody live without some kind of red pepper paste in the pantry? I know I can’t!!
- 1 lb chili peppers or a combo of chili peppers and bell peppers (I used 3 and 3)
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp coarse salt or sea salt
- Wash the peppers; seed them. Place them on a cookie sheet and roast them in a 300F oven until dried-up, as long as it takes.
- Purée in a processor or blender. Place the paste back in the oven to dry up some more if there is still liquid seeping out. When the paste is thick and firm, gather the paste and transfer it to a bowl; mix in the vinegar and salt.
- Transfer to jars and pour a layer of olive oil on top. Keep in the fridge or in the freezer in small freezer bags to use individually as needed.
NOTE: A fun and old-world method consists in stringing the peppers (after seeding them) and hanging them out in the sun to dry out for a couple of days. Then, once they are dried run them through the mixer to get a purée; add salt and mix to combine and store in the fridge in sealed jars with a layer of olive oil.
Some of my mountain friends told me they would use the pepper leaves to roll, just like grape leaves.
Comments
17 Comments • Comments Feed
Rosa says:
A great condiment!
Cheers,
Rosa
On October 7, 2013 at 1:45 pm
weavethousandflavors says:
Hi Joumana, We all need a really good chili paste in the pantry! Thanks for sharing 🙂
chow! Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
On October 7, 2013 at 2:27 pm
Heidi Siu says:
I also used to make hot chili paste. Other than olive oil, salt and garlic, I also added some vinegar and sugar to taste. With vinegar, you don’t need to freeze the paste. I bottled the paste and kept in the larder. They kept very well to the last drop.
On October 8, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Belinda @zomppa says:
Nope – cannot live without chili paste!!
On October 8, 2013 at 5:45 pm
Ozlem's Turkish Tabl says:
I feel the same, the hot red pepper paste is a major staple in my kitchen 🙂
I was thinking of you as I recently posted Oruk, a version of baked kibbeh I suppose, from my hometown Antakya. We use walnuts in it and I think you make it with pinenuts? I would love to hear about your version if you don’t mind, here is the link to my post. Thank you in advance! http://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2013/10/homemade-oruk-a-version-of-kibbeh-or-baked-icli-kofte-antakya-style/
On October 9, 2013 at 4:48 am
Ozlem's Turkish Tabl says:
My heartfelt thanks to you for stopping by and sharing your insight on our version of kibbeh, baked oruk – I greatly appreciate it. I love hearing similarities and variations in this glorious culinary heritage we share : ) My best wishes, Ozlem x
On October 10, 2013 at 4:05 am
Joumana says:
@Ozlem’s Turkish Table: My pleasure Ozlem, I personally deeply appreciate your efforts to bring forth your culture (and our cultural similarities) food, history and traditions combined; there is such richness there and so much to share. 🙂
On October 10, 2013 at 6:06 am
Oui, Chef says:
Who knew it could be this easy?
On October 14, 2013 at 5:39 pm
Adva says:
Hello Joumana, I love your blog. Beautiful pictures and the recipes looks yummy! Thank you.
One clarification for this recipe: do you cook/simmer the peppers before mashing them or not? or could it be done either way?
On December 20, 2013 at 5:32 am
Joumana says:
@Adva: I did not cook them, but I know that some folks do cook them prior to mashing them. There are half a dozen ways to prepare the paste, including drying it in the sun, which is supposed to be the best, mine method was just the fastest and the laziest 🙂
On December 20, 2013 at 6:06 am
Adva says:
Thank you for the fast and kind response 🙂
On December 20, 2013 at 9:20 am
fahin says:
hi…
i really love lebanese food. I ate lebanese food at El Read restaurant, Berlin Germany. I miss kubideh along with the red chili sauce so much. I used to live in Berlin, but now i am in Indonesia for good. I wonder if this recipe is the same recipe as the red chili sauce i tried there. do you know what it is? i would like to make it my own. Because it just amazingly delicious. or Is there any other red chili sauce’s recipe that you know? may i know the recipe?
Thank you.
On June 24, 2014 at 1:24 am
Joumana says:
@fahin: kubideh sounds Persian. I am not sure what chili sauce you ate. Can you describe it in more details? There are lots of chili sauce or perhapds it was muhammara, of which I posted at least 2 different recipes.
On June 24, 2014 at 9:09 am
Rolfen says:
I crushed some red chili with sea salt. Unfortunately they are way too salty. I put them in an air-tight jar. I figure that the high salt content will stop any spoilage. I think I’ll let them rest a bit, then get some more red chili and crush them and mix them with that to dilute the salt and have something that I can eat without my stomach churning from the saltiness.
It is nice to mix spices with the the chili. Cardammon and allspice are interesting. Some ginger, lime, garlic, cumin seeds can also help.
I would also add wine vinegar to get a chili sauce/marinade.
I love scotch bonnet peppers, but unfortunately, here in Lebanon, you only get two varieties of chili: red and green. I’m not even sure it’s two varieties, or the same one but riper. Anyway the green chili tastes absolutely uninteresting. The red chili has some potential, if properly ripened and fresh.
On December 19, 2017 at 9:24 pm
Amanda says:
Which type of peppers works best for this? I can’t figure it out and I’ve tried like 3-4 varieties.
On January 12, 2019 at 2:54 pm
Joumana Accad says:
@Amanda Have you tried Aleppo peppers? or just plain chili peppers?
On January 16, 2019 at 5:52 pm
Mechrefite says:
I was recently given some Mild Hungarian Paprika Paste (ingredients 87% raw peppers, salt, modified starch, xantham gum, etc). Is this the same as your red pepper paste?
On October 3, 2020 at 8:35 am