Chalt - the Condiment for 2012 and Beyond
Intro: Chalt - the Condiment for 2012 and Beyond
It is time for the antiquated dinner table reign of salt and pepper to be brought to an end. It is time to bring these pretenders together under the all encompassing power of Chili. Here I give you Chalt.
Okay, basically, I making pretty much every thing spicy but found that chili sauce can be a bit intrusive with certain dishes (for example it makes the milk go funny with your cornflakes). I also had a bit of time on my hands and had ordered to many scotch bonnet chillies than it was reasonably safe to use in one dish.
This is very straight forward but very effective. Great for using up a glut harvest of chillies.
Anyhows, here you go.
Okay, basically, I making pretty much every thing spicy but found that chili sauce can be a bit intrusive with certain dishes (for example it makes the milk go funny with your cornflakes). I also had a bit of time on my hands and had ordered to many scotch bonnet chillies than it was reasonably safe to use in one dish.
This is very straight forward but very effective. Great for using up a glut harvest of chillies.
Anyhows, here you go.
STEP 1: Its Chili Time
Okay choose your chilies. for this mix I have used the fiery scotch bonnet chilies. They have a distinctive flavour and plenty of heat. As you can see in the picture I have used a fair few. Use your favourite. Take the stems off and chop roughly. Keep the seeds in for a real kick.
Get yourself some good quality sea salt. This will work with normal salt but I like to think we are doing something a little special here. Your ratio of chili to salt is up to you. I would say though that you want this to be chili flavoured salt rather than the other way round. To much chili could result in too much caking. If you want more heat get hotter chillies or use dried.
Get yourself some good quality sea salt. This will work with normal salt but I like to think we are doing something a little special here. Your ratio of chili to salt is up to you. I would say though that you want this to be chili flavoured salt rather than the other way round. To much chili could result in too much caking. If you want more heat get hotter chillies or use dried.
STEP 2: Salt and Chili Time
Put your salt and chili in a frying pan and fry off over a low heat, Bit of a warning here though as the fumes can be a little noxious. No pain no gain. You are trying to take a little moisture out the mix here. Keep it mixing. You could equally well bake this mixture for safer cooking.
STEP 3: Blend
Blend it all together. I used a stem blender but any blender will do. You should get a nice salty chili paste. Still a little moist though. Return to the pan on a low heat and fry on a low heat a little more to pull out as much moisture as you can.
Blend again and fill your salt grinder. The grinder means that even if it starts to cake, a good grind should get it all broken up again.
There you go Chalt. Great with everything.
My next iteration of Chalt is going to be dissolving salt in a heavy chili solution and then re-crystalising it. But until then this will keep me going.
Simple but effective.
(I added paprika, ground black pepper and cayenne to this for a little extra twist. I did this at the end and blended it one more time to mix)
It has been three months and my Chalt is still working great. the stuff that did not fit in the grinder was kept in a sealed Kilner jar.
Blend again and fill your salt grinder. The grinder means that even if it starts to cake, a good grind should get it all broken up again.
There you go Chalt. Great with everything.
My next iteration of Chalt is going to be dissolving salt in a heavy chili solution and then re-crystalising it. But until then this will keep me going.
Simple but effective.
(I added paprika, ground black pepper and cayenne to this for a little extra twist. I did this at the end and blended it one more time to mix)
It has been three months and my Chalt is still working great. the stuff that did not fit in the grinder was kept in a sealed Kilner jar.
31 Comments
DeusXMachina 11 years ago
Try it though, it may just work!
If you want principally the heat, you could try extracting the chilis with very high proof (higher is better, something like Everclear would work best), and let it slowly evaporate over time. If you're lucky, you'll end up with crystals of relatively pure Capsaicin and other Capsaicinoids.
Actually, be VERY careful if you attempt that last bit. Capsaicinoids, when isolated, are extremely noxious. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/540637.html
I've done the extraction in chem class, but now that I think about it, we were working with sub-miligram quantities.
A safer bet would be to extract with ethanol, add your salt, and concentrate down, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick. You'd end up with a similar paste as in your 'ible, but depending on how many peppers you started with, you could really dial up the heat if you were so incline.
bamboo42 11 years ago
feralmonkey4 11 years ago
aadball504 11 years ago
lmnopeas 11 years ago
bamboo42 11 years ago
cindredm 11 years ago
huntercohen 11 years ago
bamboo42 11 years ago
But you are correct, stick to non-stick where possible. The only problem I have at the moment with using non-stick is that I only have access to an induction hob at the moment. All the pans that I can use on it are non-stick. I think iw ill stick to oven infusion.
Cheers man, any other readers - Listen to this guy. A
epimoments 11 years ago
dreadengineer 11 years ago
bamboo42 11 years ago
However if you check my next version Chalt 2 the rice method will probably be a great help.
Thanks for the suggestion
jessyratfink 11 years ago
But it sounds amazing. :D
bamboo42 11 years ago
Prepare at own risk and in a well ventilated area.
A x
Old Silverback 11 years ago
nanaverm 11 years ago
sarah05148 11 years ago
losregni 11 years ago
bamboo42 11 years ago
Flyinseamnky 11 years ago