Chili sauce and paste facts for kids
|
|
| Type | Sauce |
|---|---|
| Course | Accompaniment |
| Main ingredients | Chili peppers, Water |
| Variations | Hot or sweet |
| Other information | no_recipes= false |
Chili sauce and chili paste are popular condiments. They are made mainly from chili peppers. You can find them in many kitchens around the world!
Chili sauce can be super spicy, sweet, or a mix of both. Some chili sauces are different from regular hot sauces because they can be sweet or mild. Many sweet chili sauces, like Thai sweet chili sauce, have sugar added. This gives them a yummy sweet flavor. Sometimes, chili sauces are even made with red tomatoes. Chili sauces are often thicker than hot sauces.
Chili paste is usually a thick mix where chili peppers are the main ingredient. Some pastes are used while cooking to add flavor. Others are used to spice up a dish after it's cooked. Some chili pastes are made by fermenting them with beans, like Chinese doubanjiang. Others use powdered fermented beans, like Korean gochujang. There are many different kinds of chili pastes depending on the region or country.
You can use chili sauces and pastes in many ways. They are great as dipping sauces for your favorite snacks. They can also be used as a glaze for cooking or to marinade meats. Many types of chili sauce and paste are made in large factories and sold in stores everywhere.
Contents
What are Chili Sauces Made From?
Key Ingredients in Chili Sauces
Chili sauces usually contain puréed or chopped chili peppers. They also often have vinegar, sugar, and salt. These ingredients are cooked together to make the sauce thicker. Other things that might be added include water, garlic, and different spices. Some sauces even use ripe red tomatoes as their main ingredient.
Different Types of Chili Sauces and Pastes
East Asian Chili Sauces
Chinese Chili Sauces
Chili oil is a special flavoring from the Sichuan region of China. It's often used in cold dishes. To make chili oil, hot oil is poured over dried chilies. Sometimes, Sichuan pepper is added too. After a few hours, the oil soaks up the chili flavor. The finer the chili is ground, the stronger the taste!
Chinese chili sauces usually come as a thick paste. People use them for dipping or when stir-frying food.
Doubanjiang is a chili paste from Sichuan. It's made from broad beans or soybeans and has a lot of chili. It's often called "chili bean sauce."
Guilin chili sauce is made with fresh chili, garlic, and fermented soybeans. It's also known as soy chili sauce. Duo jiao comes from Hunan cuisine, which is known for being very spicy! Duo means chopped, and jiao means chili. Duo jiao is made from chopped red chilies pickled in salty water. It tastes salty and sour, and it's key to a famous Hunan dish called duòjiāo yútóu (fish head steamed with chopped chili).
XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce from Hong Kong. It's popular in southern Chinese areas like Guangdong province.
You la jiao (fried chili in oil) is a chili oil sauce from Guizhou. It has fried bits of ground chili and other crispy ingredients. Chili crisp is a similar sauce with crunchy soybeans and chili. Lao Gan Ma is a famous company that makes these products.
Japanese Chili Sauces
Rāyu is a Japanese chili oil, similar to Chinese la jiao you. It's often used with dishes like gyoza (dumplings).
Yuzu koshō is a Japanese paste made from chili peppers, yuzu fruit peel, and salt. It's fermented, which means it's left to age to develop its flavor.
Kōrēgusu is an Okinawan condiment. It's made by soaking chilies in awamori rice spirit. It's often added to Okinawan dishes like Okinawa soba noodles.
Korean Chili Pastes
_2.jpg)
Chili oil used in Korean cuisine is made by adding gochugaru (Korean chili powder) to hot oil. This is often done when making soups like yukgaejang.
Dadaegi is a chili paste made by mixing ground red chilies with garlic, onions, black pepper, salt, sugar, and sesame oil. It's added to dishes like naengmyeon (cold noodle soup) to make them spicy.
Gochujang, or red chili paste, is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented sauce. It's made with chili powder, glutinous rice flour, fermented soybean powder, and salt. The sweetness comes from the rice starch. Traditionally, it was fermented for years in special earthenware pots in the backyard.
Ssamjang is a thick, spicy paste. People eat it with grilled meat, often wrapped in lettuce leaves (called ssam) in Korean barbecue. It's made from soybean paste, chili paste, sesame oil, and other ingredients like onion and garlic.
Southeast Asian Chili Sauces
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore
Sambal is a general name for many chili-based sauces. They are popular in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Most sambals are traditionally made by hand using a stone grinder. Today, you can also find many bottled sambal brands.
Saus Cabai (Indonesia) or Sos Cili (Malaysia and Brunei) is a type of chili sauce. It uses tomato puree, chili juice, sugar, and salt. It gives a spicy but not too hot taste. Some commercial versions use bird's eye chilies with their seeds to make the sauce extra hot.
In Indonesia, bottled chili sauce is known as saus cabai. It's also commonly known as bottled sambal. However, unlike traditional sambal, which has a coarse texture, bottled sambal is smooth like tomato sauce. It has a simple hot flavor. Traditional sambal often has shrimp paste, but commercial chili sauce usually uses finely blended red chili pepper and garlic, sometimes with a little sugar.
Philippines
In the Philippines, dipping sauces are called sawsawan. These may or may not include chilies. Unlike sauces in other Southeast Asian countries, most sawsawan are not made beforehand. People mix them at the table to their liking. So, chilies are usually optional. However, there are some native sauces and pastes that use chilies as main ingredients.
A common one is the traditional Filipino sweet and sour sauce called agre dulce. It's made from cornstarch, salt, sugar, labuyo chilis, and tomato or banana ketchup. It's a classic dipping sauce for fried foods like lumpia (spring rolls) or okoy (shrimp fritters).
A similar sauce used for fried street food appetizers is known simply as "manong's sauce" or "fishball sauce." It's named after manong, a respectful term for an older man in Tagalog, often used for street food vendors. It is made with flour or cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, labuyo chilies, and brown sugar.
The "siomai sauce" or "chili garlic sauce" is another spicy condiment. It's usually eaten with Philippine siomai (dumplings). It uses minced labuyo chilies, garlic, and dried shrimp or minced meat cooked in water and then oil. It tastes similar to Chinese chili oil sauces for dim sum. People often squeeze calamansi (a small citrus fruit) on it before eating.
Among the Maranao people, palapa is a very spicy condiment. It's made from native scallions, ginger, turmeric, and labuyo chilies. It's a common side dish with Maranao meals.
Thailand
Thai people often put raw chilies on their food instead of chili sauces. Chili sauces are used as condiments but they can also be used as an ingredient.
Nam phrik is the general name for a Thai chili dip or paste. There are over 100 different recipes! Some well-known types include nam phrik phao (roasted chili paste) and nam phrik kapi (chili paste with fermented shrimp paste). Many Thai dipping sauces (nam chim) also contain chili peppers. Nam chim chaeo uses ground dried chili peppers for its spice.
A famous Thai chili sauce found worldwide is nam chim kai, also known as "chili sauce for chicken" or "Thai sweet chili sauce." Phrik nam pla is fish sauce with chopped raw chilies, lime juice and sometimes garlic. Sriracha sauce is a Thai chili sauce, originally from the town of Si Racha, Thailand.
Sriracha sauce is a type of hot sauce made from chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt. It's named after the coastal city of Si Racha, where it might have been first made for seafood restaurants.
Thai sweet chili sauce is used as a dipping sauce, a marinade, and for cooking, like in stir-fried dishes. The company Mae Ploy is a big company that makes Thai sweet chili sauce. Most major supermarket chain stores in North America carry Thai sweet chili sauce. Sweet chili sauce is used in Thai cuisine, and is also sometimes used in the preparation of sushi.
Some kinds of Nam phrik, which are chili-based hot sauces in Thai cuisine, are sweetened with sugar.
Vietnam
Vietnamese tương ớt (chili sauce) is made from sun-ripened chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. It is very popular in Vietnamese cooking and used with many different foods.
South Asian Chili Sauces
Chili (Hindi: mirch) is a very important ingredient throughout South Asia. Many types arrived from Portugal in the 1500s. Hot sauces were not common until recently, when varieties like bhut jolokia became famous worldwide.
In Nepal, Nun-khursani is a popular condiment. It's made with salt and chili peppers like Akabare, ground on a stone. It's often used as a Chutney and can be eaten with many meals and snacks.
Chilli Chutney is an Indian chili pepper condiment with spices and herbs.
Middle Eastern Chili Sauces
Levant Region
Shatta (Arabic: شطة shaṭṭah) is a popular hot sauce. It's made from fresh chili peppers ground with oil (usually olive oil). Vinegar, garlic, or other spices are often added. There are green and red varieties of Shatta. The red one is made with tomatoes. It's made from very hot peppers. How hot it is depends on the type of chili and the maker's preference. Homemade Shatta is usually hotter than store-bought brands. It's commonly used in falafel sandwiches, hummus dishes, or as a condiment.
Muhammara (Arabic: محمرة muḥammarah) is a hot pepper dip. It's made from Aleppo pepper, ground walnuts, dried bread, and olive oil. Other spices can be added. It's served as a dip or spread for bread or as a sauce for fish and meat. This dish is also known in Turkey as acuka.
Maghreb Region
.jpg)
Harissa is a popular hot sauce used in Tunisia and other North African countries like Algeria and Libya. It's usually made from ground red birdseye chili peppers with olive oil, garlic, cumin, and coriander. The sauce has a dark red, grainy texture. It's sometimes spread on bread or used as a condiment with meals. Tunisian Harissa is much hotter than in neighboring countries. Harissa is also popular in Israel due to immigration from North Africa.
Turkey
Biber salçası is a Turkish red pepper paste.
Yemen
Sahawiq is made by grinding fresh peppers with garlic, coriander, and sometimes other ingredients. It's popular both in Yemen and in Israel, where it was brought by Yemenite Jews, and where it is called s'khug.
African Chili Sauces
Ghana
Shito is a Ghanaian chili sauce.
Malawi
Nali Sauce is a style of piri piri chili sauce.
Somalia
Shigni is a Somali chili sauce or chutney. It's made from chili peppers, onion, garlic, tomato, lemon juice, and cilantro.
South Africa
Peri Peri sauce is a type of piri piri chili sauce. It's famously used by Nando's Chicken restaurants.
European Chili Sauces
Hungary
Erős Pista (meaning "Strong Steve") and Piros Arany (meaning "Red Gold") are hot pepper pastes from Hungary. They are both made from minced hot paprika. Paprika is grown a lot in Hungary, and both hot and mild kinds are commonly used there.
Portugal
Piri piri is a popular chili sauce in Portugal. The name "piri piri" came to English from Portuguese, through contact with Portuguese Mozambique.
Oceania Chili Sauces
New Zealand
New Zealand has many different chili sauces due to its diverse population. Common types you can find in stores include:
- Sweet chili sauce: This is a sweet dipping sauce, like the ones from Thailand.
- Hot sauces: These are similar to those from North and Latin America, like Tabasco.
- Malaysian chili sauces: These have an Indian influence.
- Peri Peri sauce: This is a Portuguese-style sauce, also popular in South Africa.
- Chinese-style sauces: Such as black bean and chili sauces.
Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands have chili sauces influenced by Asian and European cooking. You can find:
- Hot chili sauce: A thick Chinese-style sauce.
- Sweet chili sauce: A Thai-style sweet dipping sauce.
- Peri Peri sauce: A Portuguese-style piri piri sauce.
Americas Chili Sauces
Andes
Ají is a spicy sauce. It often has tomatoes, cilantro (coriander), ají pepper, onions, and water. It's made in Andean countries like Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.
Medium hot, fruity rocoto sauces are popular in Peru and Bolivia.
Caribbean
Hot sauces are used a lot in the Caribbean.
Mexico
Mexican chili sauces are known as salsa, which simply means "sauce."
United States
Pepper jelly is a sweet and spicy jelly made in the United States.
Images for kids
-
Fritters served with chili sauce in a ramekin
-
Sweet chili sauce
-
Hot sauce with basil leaves
-
Lao Gan Ma brand you la jiao (fried chili in oil) with black beans
-
Gochujang (chili paste)
-
Sambal
-
Filipino agre dulce (sweet and sour sauce)
-
Nam phrik phao ("chili jam")
-
Apple chili chutney
-
Harissa
-
Shito
-
Piri piri sauce
-
Mexican salsa (sauce)
