PEPPER RANCHERA SAUCE

THICK AND SPICY!

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This sauce came out of a need to have a strong peppery and spicy sauce that was great for dipping and scooping with tapas or grilled meats. Me and my friends would often get together and grill some food, always with a trusty Guasacaca at hand, but I felt we needed a spicy alternative to complement it. I’ve kept dried Guajillo peppers at hand for many dishes so they seemed like a good start, the rest came together in a blurr, but the result was quite interesting. I’ve used this sauce to marinate chicken, dress salads, and spread over bread. It seems to have a good amount of range, but could still use some tweaking. A non-spicy version can easily be created using paprika, red bell peppers, or only Guajillo peppers. Guajillos are sometimes a little spicy so it may not be a foolproof method.

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INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup	Chile Arbol (Dried)
1	Medium Onion
4-5	Garlic cloves
5-7	Guajillo Peppers(Dried)
1 Tbsp	Tomato Paste
1/4 cup	Chipotle(Canned, include the sauce)
1 tsp	Sugar
1 tsp	Salt
1/4 cup	Vegetable Oil
1/2 tsp	Black Pepper

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INGREDIENT NOTES:

Taste the sauce to adjust ingredients until desired. Sauce will mature with time so make small adjustments. Making an Asian style pepper sauce with these ingredients will need some testing but I’m sure its possible. Sesame oil Peanut butter Fish sauce Lemon

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INSTRUCTIONS:

• Boil water with salt and add around 4 Guajillo peppers to the water. Allow to rehydrate for a couple minutes.
• Chop onion into small pieces and match the size when chopping the garlic.
• Put the vegetable oil in a saucepan and lightly fry the onions and garlic until soft
• Add Chile Arbol and a couple dried Guajillo peppers and fry until they puff up (do not allow to brown too much or they will get bitter)
• Take oil off of heat ant let it sit and cool
• Take water from hydrated Guajillo peppers and set aside. Scrape the soft meat from the hydrated Guajillo peppers and add to cooled oil pan. This should yield about a tablespoon of hydrated Guajillo
• Using an immersion blender (or a separate blender) combine all ingredients and blend into a smooth paste. Add water from hydrated Guajillo peppers little by little as paste blends into a smooth consistency.
• The tomato paste will absorb lots of water so add more Guajillo water until you reach a nice thick smooth paste consistency.