Home Grown Bhut Jolokia Peppers

Hannah and I made chili sauce from the devilishly hot Bhut Jolokia peppers that I grew this year.

The chili plant was grown from a cultivar planted directly outside and basically neglected. I dug it up in early November with cold weather forecast and brought inside on nights when the temperature dropped below 10 °C. It took until December for the fruit to ripen, by which time the plant had been inside for nearly a month and most of the leaves had fallen off. The kids were under instructions not to touch on pain of... well, pain. Hannah picked them very carefully. We harvested about 50 g.

Ghost Sauce

This delicious Belizean-style hot sauce highlights the flavour of home-grown Bhut Jolokia chilis. A small dab will pep up pho or roast chicken with a pleasant sweat, pump fist, roar, bang head on table throw self in snowdrift.

1. Sauté 1⁄2 medium white onion.
2. Add 250 ml water, juice of 1⁄2 lime, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 1⁄4 tsp salt, 1 chopped garlic clove, and 1⁄2 carrot shredded. Bring to a simmer, then turn off the stove.
3. Add 50 g chilies, chopped. Wear gloves when handling them.
4. Blend and enjoy!

Adapted from Make Magazine.