Hungry Bear and I were snowboarding in Whistler the last five days. We had a great time on the slopes and relaxed in a very posh hotel with a ski concierge service... talk about being pampered! But after five days of eating ski resort food, Hungry Bear had a major craving for rice and I needed something spicy. I was definitely going through chili pepper withdrawal, especially from my homemade Vietnamese chili garlic sauce (tuong ot toi).

I grew up using Huy Fong's Rooster sauces — Sriracha chili sauce in pho and other soups, and tuong ot toi in just about everything else. Over the years, as my heat tolerance grew, I began eating fresh chili peppers and trying out other hot sauces. But I've never found a really good hot sauce. Most were too vinegary, too smokey or generally overpowering. All I wanted was heat to enhance my meal and not interfere with the flavors of the dish.

These days I just have a fresh chili pepper or some homemade chili garlic sauce with my food. My parents started making their own tuong ot toi around ten years ago. They wanted something hotter and fresher than the Rooster sauce. The end result was an habanero chili garlic sauce that is a blast of pure heat with a wonderful floral aroma. The sauce is not cooked and is a simple puree of chili peppers, garlic, salt, sugar and vinegar.

I am completely addicted to the sauce and can't imagine going back to the Rooster chili garlic sauce. The homemade sauce contains no preservatives and can be adjusted to taste — from chili selection to sugar, salt and vinegar balance. Depending on the pepper you choose, the sauce can vary from relatively mild to scorching hot. Either way, the chili garlic sauce will be a fresh and spicy complement to any dish.

Related Recipes

Several months ago, I shared this chili garlic sauce recipe with Andrea Nguyen of Viet World Kitchen. She made a variation of my parent's recipe along with a cooked version by another one of her readers. And here's another adaptation of tuong ot toi from Holy Basil.