Kitchen Must Haves: Garlic Chili Sauce
I know I have been on a bi-weekly posting schedule, but I forgot to schedule this one in. It goes with the Asian theme, and I will be back to my regular schedule :)
In the last post of this kind, I strongly encouraged you to have fresh onions and garlic on hand at ALL times. I wouldn’t outright judge you for not using either in your cooking...but I might not quickly make my way to your table. Just being honest.
This next tip is for the sauce-lovers among us! I honestly cannot live without having a container of chili garlic sauce. You may remember it from the ramen recipe I did a little while back. As I explained, I love cooking Asian-inspired dishes where I typically make up quick sauces with this ingredient as the base. Growing up, red sauce scared me since it typically meant the heat level was high. Yes, I know this logic is not very strong, but I was about five years old when I made this decision...I had just had a run in with a pepper and my mouth lost horribly. Nana taught me red ment “spice,” so I stuck with that for a while. I clearly ignored tomato sauce in this…Anyway, I was a late-comer to the world of spice. I did not understand something could be flavorful and spicy.
When I finally allowed myself to go further than “mild” I wanted all of my food to have a kick. This was a rough period in life as well: make things too spicy, but can’t throw it away because you’re broke, and that’s a waste...the usual. But when this sauce was introduced to me, I couldn’t go wrong. Adding this to anything just makes the flavor pop on a whole new level. As I mentioned before, I use the sauce as a base for other sauces/dips and I add it to broths as well. I believe everyone should have chili garlic sauce on hand. I’m serious! Ask my editor. I stayed at her place for a week once and did some cooking. She is now the proud owner of this item and didn’t complained one bit about my elevating her kitchen life. She’s very welcome, as you will be too if you so decide to take my advice.
Chili garlic sauce has two of my favorite things in one: chili and garlic. There is something about these flavors coming together and giving your mouth something new, but familiar to get excited over. I typically try to find recipes I can add this sauce to. My favorite is tossing veggies in this, salt and olive oil and roasting the coated veggies. It adds a little kick to the healthy, which makes it more likely that I will return to the leftovers...or enjoy seconds.
Happy Cooking Y’all