This spicy condiment holds bittersweet memories for me. My late father, who lived in Nigeria, used to take me for "Fish and Chips" whenever I used to visit him over there. We would go to an open air restaurant in Abuja, Nigeria's bustling capital city, where the freshest catfish was roasted to order, whole, over an open fire and served with moreish, salty chips. Once cooked the fish would be smothered in an eye-watering spicy sauce, made from fresh red peppers which I can only assume were scotch bonnet or habaneros. Although very spicy, it had the most wonderful fruity chilli flavour that you can only get from really hot chillis.
This recipe is thankfully less spicy than the original, however still keeps that fruitiness by substituting some of the chillies for roasted red peppers. I would still recommend using a fairly hot chilli such as Scotch Bonnet, however at a pinch, or if you really can't stand heat, a milder chilli would still work. If you like it really hot, don't remove the seeds from the chilli. Serve this up with anything you like, it goes particularly well with firm white fish such as Turbot or Monkfish.
Makes approximately 8 servings
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 an onion
1 clove of garlic
1cm ginger
1 red scotch bonnet chilli, seeds removed
1 jar roasted red peppers (or 4 roasted red peppers)
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
1 teaspoon of soy sauce/tamari
Pink salt to taste
Method
1 Heat the olive oil in a pan on a medium heat.
2 Finely chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Add to the pan and gently sauté until soft but not browned, around 5 minutes.
3 Chop the chilli and add to the pan along with the roasted peppers, curry powder and soy sauce/tamari.
4 Cover and cook gently for 10 minutes until everything is soft. Season to taste.
5 Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor. Blend until combined but still retains some texture.
6 Store in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 5 days.