Turkish Chilli Sauce

A perfect Saturday night accompaniment

Photo by author

This recipe is very quick and very simple. But tastes like something that can be bought at an artisan market, so depending on your audience you can either claim the credit, or tell them it is very exclusive!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 red chillies (or more depending on strength and your taste)
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 tsp garlic puree (I always keep garlic puree in the fridge because it’s quicker and easier than peeling and chopping fresh garlic, but use 4 medium to large cloves of garlic instead if you prefer)
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, white balsamic vinegar or distilled malt vinegar (you can use any vinegar really, but coloured vinegars will darken the final sauce and part of the appeal to me is the redness of it)
• a generous pinch of salt (optional)
• 1 tsp sumac (if you don’t have any sumac, then try 1/2 tsp lemon pepper or simply freshly milled pepper, or experiment with other spices such as cumin)

Equipment:

• Hand blender (preferably) or any other kind of blender
• Jar or jug to blend in (if using…