Published by: Gourmet Sleuth Last Updated: 10/08/2013
Sriracha is a chile sauce made with ground chilies and garlic then blended into a smooth paste. The sauce is very flavorful with a nice amount of heat.
Essentially this sauce is the Vietnamese equivalent of ketchup and can be used in the same way.
By: Dave Drum
For those so inclined, here is a recipe for making your own sriracha hot sauce:
Fill a container half full with peeled garlic cloves. Fill the rest of the way with 2 (at least) habaneros and a mix of dried serrano and cayenne pods that have been stemmed but not seeded. Add 1 tablespoon of non-iodized salt and fill the container (to cover chile pods and garlic) with 5% strength white vinegar. Cider vinegar or wine vinegar will work but will give you a different flavor.
As the chile pods re-hydrate top up the liquid with water or vinegar. After a few days to a week of steeping in the vinegar dump the whole mess into the food processor or blender and puree until a smooth, thick consistency is reached. If the mixture is too thick it may be thinned with vinegar or water.
The resulting sauce is tangy, quite garlicky and very tasty. Mixed 50/50 with ketchup it makes a very nice seafood cocktail sauce. Or it can serve as a salsa on tortilla chips. It's very versatile.