Lately, I've been dissatisfied with the chili sauces I find in stores. Many of them taste of preservatives, and almost all have ingredient lists over 10 items long, including MSG or some offshoot. (Yes, I know MSG isn't that bad for you, but if it's a restaurant staple in Beijing I might as well limit the amount consumed at home.) Chili sauce is such a basic blend, yet store-bought brands contain ingredients decipherable only through a Chinese-English chemical compound dictionary.

(Chilis shown larger than real life.)

So recently I decided to buy a bunch of fresh red chilis and make my own sauces. I used the tiny little bird's eye chilis, but you can also use larger red chili peppers for a milder sauce. I donned plastic gloves and spent half an hour mincing my chilis. (Too many painful incidences of having residual chili oil on my hand when removing contacts made me become extra cautious.) That was the only labor-intensive part. Then I just cooked the chilis with yellow rice wine and dark rice vinegar, stir in some sugar, and seasoned it with a little salt. Done.

As a variation, you can make chili black bean sauce. Just use fermented black beans, available in most Chinese grocerrs. (Rinse in water or rice wine before use to get out grit.) Add the chopped fermented black beans to the chilis, and leave out salt since the beans are already salty enough. You can use the finished sauce in a number of spicy Chinese dishes, like twice-cooked pork and Sichuan boiled beef. It can also replace the black beans and chili oil in my spicy chicken with black bean sauce.

Have you ever made your own chili sauce at home?

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Basic Chili Sauce

8 ounces fresh red bird's eye chilis, stemmed and finely minced
2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon yellow rice wine
2 teaspoons dark rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Cook chilis in oil over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Add rice wine and vinegar and simmer for another 3 minutes. Stir in sugar and salt. Remove from heat and let cool before transfering to storage container. Sauce and be stored in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

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Chili Black Bean Sauce

8 ounces fresh red bird's eye chilis, stemmed and finely minced
1/3 cup fermented black beans, rinsed and chopped
2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon yellow rice wine
2 teaspoons dark rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar

Cook chilis and black beans in oil over medium-low heat for 1
minute. Add rice wine and vinegar and simmer for another 3 minutes.
Stir in sugar. Remove from heat and let cool before
transfering to storage container. Sauce and be stored in the fridge for
up to 3 weeks.