lemon juice

Wing Yip – Sweet Chilli Sauce (Medium)

by Hot Juan on December 23, 2011 · 0 comments

in Product Reviews

Wing Yip - Sweet Chilli Sauce (Medium)

Wing Yip - Sweet Chilli Sauce (Medium)

If you have never been to a Wing Yip Superstore, it is a bit like an Aladdin cave of goodies, with lots of exciting stuff I don’t recognise, lots of cooking equipment, jars of pastes and sauces, fresh and frozen exotic seafoods, it is like play ground for your shopping trolley, unfortunately there is not one close to me here in Somerset, so when I saw this in Tescos we had to give it a try. Having looked on the Wing Yip site I could not find this sauce listed, so it may be a wholesale special for the supermarkets.

I used to buy lots of sweet chilli sauces, some excellent ones from Wing Yip Superstore, but I have spent many years growing and eating more and more interesting sauces, so while some sweet chilli sauces still find house room here, most are just cheap overly sweet rubbish but I still come across the odd winner.

So I am very interested to see what is in the ingredients list. a few things worry me, like the lack of chilli in this sauce at only 1% it could be disappointing, while using plum paste as a base may make this an interesting sauce to use instead of plum sauce in some dishes.

Ingredients: Water, Sugar, Plum Paste (11.5%)( Plum (68%), water, Sugar, Citric Acid, Salt), Salt, Modified Maize Starch, Red Pepper Power, Thickener: Cellulose Gum, Citric Acid, Chilli Power (1%), concentrated Lemon Juice.

Bottle purchased in Tesco (Dec 2011)

So what is this like.. On opening the bottle the smell is very sweet with a definite plum aroma, it is a very mild sauce 1% is defiantly 1%. It tastes a bit thin to be honest, the plum flavour is not as intense as I expected/hoped, it does however get better the more you have, it is nowhere near as sweet and sticky as a plum sauce, but is far more interesting than some of the cheap sweet chilli sauces.

Compared to that bottle of sweet chilli sauce with the label you cannot read, from a shop who’s name you could not pronounce (That is if you are me) it is much better sauce, but if you have been lucky like me to try what has to be the best Sweet Chilli Sauce from Tree Can’t Dance then it is OK, but a little lacking in depth.

The label design is nice and simple, and priced at £1.69 from Tesco’s for a 150ml bottle I would buy this instead of plum sauce for a change or as dipping sauce for Thai style fish cakes etc, it’s well worth a try. But I think if you can take a trip to a Wing Yip Superstore they have a big selection of different sweet chilli sauces to try.

Flavour
(5/10)
Heat
(1/10)
Packaging
(7/10)
Value
(7/10)
Overall
(6/10)

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A Simple Recipe for Franks RedHot Hummus

by Hot Juan on December 22, 2011 · 1 comment

in Recipes

Frank's RedHot Original

Frank's RedHot Original

I have always loved Hummus, but during a recent detox diet I think it was the one thing then kept me sane.. Well this recipe for Hummus is so simple and only takes a few minutes to make and the addition of some Frank’s RedHot Original which as a Louisana style hot sauce adds a bit of bite from the peppery Cayenne pepper and a touch of saltiness.

Ingredients

  • 400g (14oz) Can of Chickpeas
  • 3 tbps Lemon Juice
  • 2 Garlic Cloves (Crushed)
  • 1 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
  • 4 tbsp Frank’s Redhot Sauce (Original)
  • 4 tbsp  Water (Approx, you can add more if needed)
  • 4 tbsp Olive Oil
  • Salt to Taste

Method

  • Drain the chickpeas and rinse in fresh water.
  • Add the chickpeas, Franks RedHot, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, and water in a food processor, and blend to a creamy purée.
  • Add more lemon juice, garlic, cumin or salt to taste.
As with most recipes feel free to adapt this to your tastes, add some roasted red peppers, a little more or a little less of the sauce, it is completely up to you.

Note: Most Hummas recipe include some Tahini (Sesame Seed Paste), if you have some add it before blending, it does improve the texture and flavour, but I always forget to buy any.

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Sainsburys – Peri Peri Sauce

by David Kelly on December 11, 2011 · 0 comments

in Product Reviews

Sainsburys Peri Peri Sauce

Sainsburys Peri Peri Sauce

Peri-Peri or Piri Piri is Swahili for “pepper-pepper” and is name commonly used for the African Bird’s Eye chilli. It seems to be a style of chilli sauce that has become more mainstream probably in part due to the success of Nando’s restaurants in the UK. This being a Sainsburys own-brand sauce I have to admit I was somewhat sceptical about how good this sauce in comparison to the many other specialist chilli sauces I’ve tried – certainly I figured that it wouldn’t be a hot experience.

The labelling is quite minimalist in approach with a graphic of some chillies on the front of the bottle and Sainsbury’s traffic light health labelling on the front (which advises me that there’s a high salt content in this product). The sauce is also marked as being suitable for vegans.

Ingredients: Water, spices (salt, Dried Mixed pepper, Onion Powder, Rice Flour, Lemon Juice Powder, Paprika, Cayenne Pepper, Chilli Powder, Garlic Powder, Colour: Paprika Extract; Natural Flavouring), Onion, Lemon Puree, Spirit Vinegar, Green Chilli Puree (5%), Rapeseed Oil, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Stabiliser: Xantham Gum; Salt.

Opening the bottle and smelling the sauce I initially got quite a sharp hit of vinegar and then a combination of citrus lemon & garlic tones. The sauce is a rich orange / brown colour and pours easily from the bottle, leaning towards being more runny than thick. Tasting the sauce I found I got quite a strong citrus hit (more than I expected) and whilst I could detect other ingredients such as the garlic powder and onion, I found the flavours not well balanced. The lemon flavour is too dominant and over powering and results in sharp aftertaste.

With regards to heat, whilst the ‘3 chilli’ rating on the label implies it has some kind of heat, this isn’t going to do anything for chilli head. There’s a hint of warmth which builds somewhat as more is consumed but that’s about it. This product is squarely aimed at the ‘Joe Average’ masses and so would probably be a medium hot for them.

Whilst at only £1.19 it’s certainly inexpensive overall I found my supermarket brand scepticism was well served. I think this sauce is trying to be a clone of the Nando’s Peri Peri style sauces but alas it’s a poor imitation of them and hits well off the mark.

Flavour
(3/10)
Heat
(2/10)
Packaging
(3/10)
Value
(5/10)
Overall
(3/10)

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Marks & Spencer – Harissa Paste

by Hot Juan on November 5, 2011 · 0 comments

in Product Reviews

Marks & Spencer Harissa Paste

Marks & Spencer Harissa Paste

Marks & Spencer have not done very will in our review so far,we have always like the quality of their product, but some how they have missed point and made things so lame that they lack any flavour and warmth.

Well Harissa comes from North Africa/Middle East and there are probably as many family recipes and variation out there that would could just do a blog on Harissa. Having looked at the ingredients list I am pleased to see all the essential ingredients included, maybe not in the order I was expecting, but it is a good start.

This one certainly looks the part with it bright red and yellow label, the the top of the lid is some pictures of chillies and some intelligible writing but on popping open the lid, I can smell Mint, a lot of mint, then Coriander and finally Garlic and Ginger, I have had Harrisa with Mint before, but I don’t remember the smell being that strong.

The initial taste is also instantly of mint, for the English, this is starting to taste like a warm mint sauce, it is not having the effect I was expecting from a Harissa, which is a hot, garlicky, salty condiment that I normally add to couscous as on it own it overpowers in all directions.

Ingredients: Red Pepper, White Wine Vinegar, Sugar, Cumin, Ginger Puree, Extra Virgin Olice Oil, Dried Mint, Water, Garlic Paste, Mint, Coriander, Lemon Juice, Salt, Crushed Chillies, Rose Petals, Lemon Paste, Black Pepper.

I would not like to say this does not taste very nice, I am enjoying spooning it out of the jar, it is just not what I expect of a Harissa, I think M&S could have done a lot better than this, people who by Harissa tend to know what they are buying, and this may well be a bit of a disapointment.

On the other hand this may be of some use at the weekend with my roast lamb!

I think I would have to say, don’t buy this, get a proper version from an local ethnic shop, or order a jar of the excellent ChilliPepperPete’s Harissa Paste that we reviewed a while ago or you could even make your own by following our simple recipe.

Flavour
(5/10)
Heat
(2/10)
Packaging
(8/10)
Value
(3/10)
Overall
(4/10)

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