Peach Chili Salsa

At the Farmers market, I've grown addicted to eating the fried Kenyan bread, Mandazi, which comes with a sharply piquant chili chutney. Of course, there is barely half a tablespoon of chutney that comes with each bread, and I wasn't going to eat several fried breads to satisfy my chili chutney craving.

After one such excursion, while the fire from the chutney was still blazing in my tongue, I decided that some equally fiery salsa was called for to enjoy the small bag of tortilla chips we had stashed away for the weekend treat. The other adult enjoys piquant foods way more than I do, and has better tolerance for chilies than me. So it was going to be a special treat to be enjoyed with a good pint of dark beer.

Now, peaches are in season. Peaches and nectarines and plums make wonderful sauces and chutneys, bringing a fruity aroma and mildly sweet flavor that complements many dishes. So, to balance the fiery chilies, I went with mildly sweet peach and nectarine to make this simple uncooked salsa.

Simply grind the ingredients, adjust flavors to taste and enjoy.

Ingredients
1 peach, chopped
1 nectarine, chopped
½ teaspoon brown sugar
3 Thai green super chilies
3 dry red Japanese chilies
1 Tbsp lime juice (more to taste)
salt to taste

Nam Prik Pow

This nam prik pow recipe is basically just roasted chili paste as I haven't developed a taste for shrimp paste or fish sauce and so I don't use it in my recipes.

We had a ton of thai dragon chilies from our garden last year and we hung the last few plants out to dry while it still was full of super hot chilies.

This roasted chili recipe was a wonderful way to use up the dry red chilies. But any other type of chili would work just as well for this paste. It lasts for weeks (if you don't use it all up, that is) if refrigerated in an air tight container.

Ingredients
1 cup loosely packed whole dry red chilies
1 cup chopped pickled jalapenos
2 medium shallots, coarsely chopped (or ½ medium red onion)
8-10 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 cup canola oil for frying

1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp tamarind concentrate
1 Tbsp brown sugar


Preparation:

1. Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar and tamarind concentrate stir well and set aside
2. Heat a tablespoon oil in a pan and sauté the shallots and garlic; set aside
3. Toast the dry red chilies; set aside to cool a little
4. When cool enough to handle, combine the roasted chilies, jalapenos, sautéed shallots and garlic and blend into a fine paste
5. Heat 3-4 Tbsp oil in a pan, add the blended chili paste and over medium high heat, start frying it; add a little oil at a time as needed and stir frequently till aroma develops, and the chili paste turns dark and gets roasted well, and oil starts separating
6. Allow to cool completely, stir in the soy sauce, tamarind, brown sugar mixture