Green Chili-Garlic Sauce (gluten-free, paleo, vegan variation)
 
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A verdant, spicy Green Chili-Garlic Sauce - the perfect complement to noodles, sandwiches, eggs or as a marinade for meats. So very good!
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Makes: 1.5 cups
Ingredients
  • 2 heads garlic
  • 20-25 fresh serrano chilies
  • ¼ cup white vinegar
  • 2 T coconut sugar
  • 3 T sesame oil
  • ¼ large yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp fish sauce (or salt or soy sauce to taste)
Instructions
  1. Peel garlic cloves and roast in a dry, cast-iron skillet, tossing occasionally, until toasty brown in places and very fragrant, about 5 minutes. Turn off flame.
  2. Meanwhile, trim stems from chilies, halve them lengthwise and remove a majority of their seeds -- or, if you're a fiend for hot stuff, leave 'em in. (I used a handy grapefruit spoon to quickly scrape out most of the seeds. For the batch of chilies I purchased, the sauce was still plenty hot.) Roughly chop chilies.
  3. Add toasted garlic cloves, chilies, sugar and vinegar to a food processor and puree into an almost-smooth, pesto-like consistency.
  4. Add sesame oil to the same cast iron skillet and heat over a med-high flame. Add onion and cook until translucent and just beginning to brown. Turn off heat and add onion with sesame oil to chili mixture in food processor; pulse to combine. Season with fish sauce or salt/soy sauce and pulse again. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly, adding more vinegar if necessary to mellow heat.
  5. Pour chili sauce back into the hot skillet and let stand for 2 hours (during which time flavors will meld and residual heat from pan will slightly thicken sauce) before using or transferring to a storage container. Sauce should keep for a few weeks in the fridge. Spoon judiciously over eggs, tacos, noodles, rice dishes, grilled meat, fish or veggies -- or mix into your favorite marinade. Enjoy!
Notes
I love the complex savoriness that fish sauce lends as the salt in this sauce, but you can also opt for sea salt (a smoked version would be particularly interesting!) or soy sauce/wheat-free tamari for a vegan/vegan gluten-free alternative. For strict paleo diets, be sure to choose a fish sauce without added sugar.
Recipe by the pig & quill at https://thepigandquill.com/green-chili-garlic-sauce-gluten-free-paleo-vegan-variation-and-our-chapter-on-ohio/