Homemade chili sauce - pt 2

29July2020
I am about to make my 2nd batch of chili sauce. The first was good, but a few things need to be adjusted...
- less vinegar. I thought the taste was a bit too sour
- a tiny bit more sweetness (maybe by adding more onions or some sweet fruit?)
- a tiny bit more heat (I will add chili powder)
- cheaper without sacrificing quality. The total cost for my first batch was too high. 2 ingredients I used that had a high price tag were chili and vinegar. For chili, I cant get cheaper than whatever the going price is. For vinegar I used Bragg apple cider vinegar which is the most expensive. This time I will use white vinegar (the middle bottle)

The bottle on the right we use for cleaning.
Here are the ingredients for the 3 types of vinegar...

So the middle looks good. We will see about the taste after it's all done.

Here are prices of the chili sauces I have bought before. Maggi is the most popular and well established brand here. Its too sweet for me.

 If my calculations are right, that costs RM1.09 per 100g

This one is ok tasting.

 Cost is cheaper at RM0.78 per 100g.
I am sure these ones in the regular condiments aisle are filled with chemical preservatives, fillers and colouring.

The one that is pretty good in natural ingredients and kept in the chiller veggie section is this, my favourite...

The cost is the highest at RM4.65 per 100g.

My first chili sauce was RM3+ per 100g. It cannot match in price compared to the regular condiment aisle sauce, but definitely is cheaper than my favourite. And it had better ingredients and zero chemicals, and most importantly tasted good. There is still room for improvement. I will try to calculate more accurately each time I make some.

And here we go....
250g chili

The sauce at the end wasnt hot enough. I used the same quantity and type of chili. Just goes to show the main ingredient is so variable that it is impossible to reproduce the same flavour each time.

80g garlic

I upped the garlic but still wasnt enough. Next batch will be 100g.

200g onion

I might reduce this to 150g next time coz I want the garlic and chili to be the main taste.

Vinegar 200ml. Water 400ml. I reduced the vinegar coz the last batch was too sour.  The final product was a bit runny, so maybe 300ml water next time. Simmer for 15 mins until the garlic is soft.

Its late I will continue writing tomorrow. Good nite ZZZZZZ

Blend...

Sieve out the bigger bits if you was a smooth sauce, back into the cooking pot.

Now with low heat, add the rest...
Salt 1tsp, sugar 4 TBsp (I start tasting after 3 and stop when I like the level of sweetness) , chili powder 3 tsp (tasted after each tsp. 3 was not enough but I stopped), lime juice from half a lime (maybe less next time).

I couldn't get the same taste as the last batch, and ended up adding a bit of soy sauce 1tsp and cumin powder 1tsp as an experiment. The taste was ok but different. It gave the sauce a slight Indian taste. 

The final product was too runny so I added half a tsp of this...

psyllium husk!!! It worked! Just thought of it instead of corn flour which most people use to thicken a sauce. Only a tiny bit was enough. And give it time to work its magic :)

A short video of the bottling so you can see the texture...

Bottled...

The one on the right looks exactly like its original contents :) Shame I haven't achieved its taste yet.

Heat was not a good as the last batch. I will need to figure out the best way to increase the heat if the chilis are not hot.