Victorian Essence of Chillies

Victorian Essence of Chillies is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe from the 1860s for a classic chilli sauce made from dried chillies blended with vinegar. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Anglo-Indian version of: Victorian Essence of Chillies.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

15 minutes

Total Time:

25 minutes

Additional Time:

(+3 days maturing)

Makes:

1 bottle

Rating:

Tags : Chilli Recipes Sauce Recipes Vegetarian Recipes Fusion Recipes British Recipes

This is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe redacted from the volume THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK: A Practical Handbook to The Kitchen in India (author unknown), published by: WYMAN & CO., HARE STREET CALCUTTA circa 1869. The recipe comes at the end of the section on PORTUGUESE CURRY (VINDALOO OR BINDALOO), so this is a Vindaloo curry paste or a curry paste from Goa.

Original Recipe

355.—Essence of Chilies

Pick one chittack or two ounces of the best dried Patna chilies; expose them to a hot sun for an
hour; then pound them to as fine a powder as possible; put the powder into a stoppered bottle with a
tspful of salt, pour over it as much vinegar only as will form a limp paste, and expose it to the
sun for a few days; then pass it through muslin, adding to it as much more vinegar as will reduce it to
the consistency of some thick sauce.

Modern Redaction

For this recipe I used a blend of cayenne chillies and red habaneros, with a couple of Kashmiri chillies for colour. In essence this is a hot chilli sauce that's made with dried rather than fresh chillies. You can adjust the chillies used to suit your own taste.

Ingredients:

50g dried red chillies
2 dried Kashmiri chillies
vinegar, as needed
1 tsp salt

Method:

Place a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add the dried chillies and toast lightly to ensure they're dry (about 90 seconds will be enough).

Turn out onto a plate to cool then place in a spice or coffee gringer and render to a fine powder.

Transfer this powder to a jar then add the salt, then mix in just enough vinegar to form a loose paste. Put in the sun every day for 3 days to mature.

After this time, pass the mixture through a sieve lined with muslin (cheese cloth). Pour the liquid into a bottle and add just enough more vinegar to give the consistency of a thick but pourable sauce.

Find more Victorian Recipes Here and more Curry Recipes Here. For the original version of The Indian Cookery book see my The Indian Cookery Book main page.