I do this too for my Indian/Malaysian cooking. We have a local farm that grows several types of chilies in their you-pick section. I pick a lot of red cayennes and serranos, and then wash them, dry them on a towel, and then freeze them whole in a freezer bag. When I need one, I just pull one out, pull off the stem and chop it up.
It’s easy to find green chillies in the stores, but it’s much harder to find non-Fresno and non-jalapeno red chillies, which I use for certain recipes.
I have a couple suggestions for this recipe. It’s basically the same as what we do for our hot sauces. You can use any sort of peppers - red, green, whatever. It works very well with habaneros & the ferment is pretty fun to watch. Those habaneros can get pretty excited. I would omit the final straining. If you give it a good long run in the blender there are no significant chunks& it has more ‘body’ & hence more pepper flavor, if you don’t strain it. If you’re going to do it often I suggest a gallon glass jug & a valve like this: https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/canning-accessories/fermenting-tools.html Big investment - $5 total maybe? The valve prevents oxygen from getting in so you don’t get the white mold. The mold is harmless but it’s unappealing & gives some folks the heebejeebies.
Yes, I don’t strain it. I like the body. Although after a good spin in the Vitamix, it’s pretty smooth. I haven’t done any other peppers than the red jalapeños, but only because of availability to me. I picked up some manzanos today. Looking forward to that sauce. My mom has done a mix of red jalapeños and habaneros and my brother in law did some Thai bird chilis. All with delicious results
Might sound blasphemous, but I’ve found that cheap balsamic is a good sub for this vinegar. I use so little of either type of vinegar (haven’t bought a dark vinegar in 4+ years) so I like that I don’t have to stock both.
Isn’t that funny. I never have cheap balsamic in the house, but always have Chinese Black Vinegar. I too see no reason to have both. Same goal; different path.
