Chillies For Chilli Sauce

Asked by sandyshore. Answered on 26th July 2016

Full question

I have tried to make the Chili, Ginger and Garlic Sauce recipe using "De Arbol" fresh red chilies, which are readily available here in Canadian supermarkets. The seeds separated and the skins remained, no matter how much blitzing. The end result is not as described or pictured in the book, and is too hot to use as a sauce (level 8/10 on the hot scale). Specifically what type of chili should be used? We would really like to try this recipe again! Thanks, Janet

Our answer

Nigella's Chilli, Ginger and Garlic Sauce recipe (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) uses 100g, or 4 ounces, of regular red chillies. These are the medium-hot type of chillies that are usually about 5-7cm (2-3 inches) long. De Arbol chillies are small chillies, sometimes known as "bird's beak". They are very hot chillies and will make an extremely spicy sauce.

We would suggest looking for either the Dutch red finger chillies or red serrano chillies. The Dutch finger chillies give a good red colour. These should be available in many supermarkets. Red fresno chillies would be another possibility. If these are not available and you only have hotter chillies then you could try making the sauce but removing the seeds and the white membrane from the inside of the chillies. This is a bit fiddly, as the smaller chillies have a lot of seeds, but a lot of the heat is contained in these parts of the chilli. Once the sauce is blended you could then taste it and see if it needs more heat. If necessary then you could add a few seeds back in and blend again.