I’m Indian and my husband is Asian at heart. We both love spice and heat. Before our kids came along, we cooked and ate a lot of spicy food. Once I began cooking for our bubbas, I had to pare it down. So we would add chilli powder, fresh chillies, Tabasco or cayenne pepper to our food just before we ate it.

We have an organic chilli plant growing in our garden and it gives us so many green and red chillies. I’ve wondered what to do with so many. One day inspiration hit. Also, we didn’t have any more Tabasco sauce – I couldn’t find an organic version, so I stopped buying it with the intention of making my own. I never got around to it.

So, I picked some fresh green chillies off the plant, chucked it in the vitamix and blended it. Hmmm…too dry. Let’s add some liquid to it…ACV maybe. Right, here goes. I tasted it and there was something missing – salt! When something is missing, it’s usually salt. I also had some coriander that was lying in the fridge – let’s chuck that in. Lo and behold, the hot sauce was born in my home. I now regularly make it and store it in my fridge. We add it to chicken while cooking, foods just before we eat, and anything and everything really – it is truly delish.

Just be careful when you open your blender after blending. It smells hot and could hurt your eyes and throat.

Let’s talk nutrition – coriander (or cilantro), like parsley, has many benefits. It draws out toxins, contains Vitamins A, C and K, contains magnesium (it’s calming and an antidepressent), it is antimicrobial (it fights food poisoning), lowers cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure…It is used in ayurveda to regulate periods.

ACV – or apple cider vinegar has been used for thousands of years in various ways. It is fermented so has a high probiotic content.

Chillis – they’re so little, but pack a high nutrient punch. They are good for your heart, useful for natural pain relief, clears mucus, boosts immunity, lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes, prevents stomach ulcers, and guess what else – it cools you down. There is a reason why they use hot and spicy chillies in warm countries. The more spice you eat, the more you sweat; the more you sweat, the more you cool down! So, eat up and cool down.

REFERENCES

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=29

Phytochemistry and Gastrointestinal Benefits of the Medicinal Spice, Capsicum Annuum L. (Chilli): A Review Amal K Maji, Pratim Banerji PMID: 26756096 DOI: 1515/jcim-2015-0037