Fresh Homemade Hot Sauce or Sambal

 I'm in  a phase right now. Fellow blogger Cheryl  face booked  some cool pictures takes with her I Phone and Hipstamtic and I have been obsessed ever since. I even set up a Tumblr acct to showcase my cool artsy pictures and other stuff that I cant put here. It's that bad.  So I figured I could get some stylized  shots of these Red Chili Peppers to make the feeling of heat even more visible with this analog style of photography via digital means. I love the vintage feel . So you may see this from time to time here. It's a phase I need to work through.

 A few weeks back I received my Culinaria Southeast Asia book and was captivated by the Sambal''s. Sambal's are essentially chili based dipping sauce that precedes what we in the Western world think as as ketchup. Sambal Oelek being the most popular one to come to mind. Some Sambals have shrimp paste, lime, soy, sugar, ginger, garlic, tamarind, peanuts,etc. All sorts of variations exist.

I made my own variation  based on  the Sambal Cuka ( Vinegar and Chili Dip) in Culinaria. I ended up altering things and adding more ingredients. My batch was also larger because I had about 50 or so Chili peppers. I will give you roughly what I did. Taste and alter according to your tastes.This makes a large batch, that's ideal to divide up and bottle to share. Fresh Sauce  keeps for 1 week in the refrigerator.

Fresh Homemade Hot Sauce/ Sambal

(You can scale this down as this makes over 1/4 liter, a rather large batch. You can use minimally 10 red chilies and amounts of 2 tbsp of vinegar, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 inch ginger, 1 tbsp soy, 1 tbsp sugar)

1/4 lb red chili peppers ( about 50 chili peppers)

 2 inches of fresh ginger root, peeled and cut into small pieces

1/2 fist of garlic. Cloves peeled

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

3-4 tablespoons of Soy Sauce

Wash and Stem chilies (wear gloves to protect skin).  Add rest of ingredients. Process with food processor. Store in sealed jar in the refrigerator. Keeps 1 week

Winner of Julia Child , A Life Book Giveway

Two weeks ago I did a book review for the book Julia Child, A Life. The winner is the lovely Rose from South Africa. Rose being from South Africa is new to whole Julia Child legend. Enjoy Rose. I Hope it inspires.

Guess What?

I am writing on EbonyJet.com. Be sure to check out my first post Books to Crave. I selected 6 cookbooks I feel passionate about at this very minute.And it was hard to narrow that down.

BYOB: Buttermilk Bread to Cinnamon - Raisin Bread

This weekend I was looking for a bread I could make with Buttermilk . I always have left over Buttermilk from a recipe and wanted to find a practical use for it while keeping my commitment to BYOB. I chose a pretty easy recipe from Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day, which most of you know is a great book and the talk of the blogosphere.Jeff Hertzerg and Zoe Francois have revolutionized home bread baking in a simple , time friendly method that allows the busy home cook /baker to always have fresh bread for their family. If you don't have this book, I suggest you get it. For those of you who are scared of yeast, this is the perfect foray into Bread Baking for you.

I selected the Buttermilk Bread from the Enriched Bread and Pastry section. If you like a chewy , spongy, white bread, with a soft crust,then try this. The Buttermilk bread made plain is a great sandwich bread. As with all the Basic recipes in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, you can then use the basic for other recipes. Judy's Board of Directors Cinnamon- Raisin Bread called out to me. This is fantastic Cinnamon bread that's easy to make once you make the basic dough.
Judy's Board Of Directors' Cinnamon- Raisin Bread adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

2 cups lukewarm water
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
6 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
Butter or vegetable oil for greasing the pan

For Swirl:
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup raisins
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash

To mix Buttermilk Bread Dough:
Mix the yeast , salt, and sugar with liquids( water and buttermilk) in the bowl of your stand mixer.
Add in flour gradually with the dough hook attachment. Do not knead, but mix until all is incorporated.
Cover loosely( the authors advise that it not be airtight) and allow let it rest at Room Temperature until dough rises and collapses ( approx 2 hours) .
Dough can used immediately or put , covered in anon airtight container in the refrigerator. The dough can be stored for up to 7 days and easier to handle when cold.

To Bake:
Grease your loaf pan. On a lightly floured surface roll out a piece of dough into a 8x 16 inch rectangle. I used half of the dough for my baking pan. Brush the dough with egg wash. Sprinkle sugar, cinnamon, and raisins evenly . From the short side up roll in jelly roll fashion and place in greased pan seam side down. Allow to rise/rest in pan 40 minutes ( if dough is used unrefrigerated) or 1 hour and 40 minutes if used refrigerated.
Preheat oven to 375F and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden Brown. * I used some of the remaining egg wash on top of the dough to give the crust a gloss.A lame was used to slash the bread. I also placed my pan on a baking stone to aid in baking.
Remove from pan and allow to cool on wire rack for a few hours before slicing.


Here is the Authors of Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day Pictorial and recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Bread and toast