Note to self: ALWAYS keep chili paste in the house! Recipes all around the world list chili pastes among their required ingredients. Each is made from regional chili peppers and spices, which makes the recipe flavor completely unique. A simple chili paste is made from dried peppers. Drying the peppers preserves them, allowing you to keep them almost indefinitely. It also concentrates the flavor of the pepper, so when you rehydrate them to make your paste, your end result is a flavor bomb that makes your body quiver. This particular recipe is made with ancho peppers and guajillo peppers, which I picked up in bulk from my local Mexican grocer. I keep it in a little container in the fridge, like so. Ignore the terrible handwriting. I make a slightly larger batch to keep around for quick use, but since it’s truly so quick and easy to make anyway, there is no reason you can’t make a fresh batch for whatever recipe you’ll be making that particular day. I will be using this chili paste in a number of recipes that I have planned in the coming days, and I will be referencing it, so if you’re cooking along with me, get a batch of this ready ahead to save yourself a bit of time. I like to add in a few other ingredients, like garlic, a bit of salt, some onion, though you don’t have to do it this way. It works for me, though. You can add in other seasonings as well to achieve your preferred flavors, though the goal here is to keep it generic enough to be able to include it in any number of dishes. This chili paste makes me super happy. Let me know how you wind up using it. Remove from the water (reserve the soaking water) and cut off the stems. Slice open and remove the seeds. Drop them into a food processor. Heat a small pan to medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add onion and cook about 4-5 minutes to soften. Add garlic and cook 1 more minute, stirring a bit. Remove from heat and add to the food processor. Add a pinch of salt or so and process to form a thick paste. If it is too thick, add a tablespoon or 2 of the reserved soaking water and process to your preferred consistency. Transfer to a container and top with a layer of olive oil. Cover and refrigerate. Should last a couple of weeks.
