The chili peppers and garlic that give the sauce its signature spice and flavour take center stage. This results in sambal oelek being spicier than sriracha, which might take some getting used to at first.
The texture of sambal oelek is much more rustic, and you can even see the seeds of the chili peppers. Since sambal oelek is sold in a jar, it eliminates this problem. As a bonus, the jar is also way easier to clean out for recycling. While there are countless recipes that call for sriracha, I find that sambal oelek is much more versatile.
While it's often used as a stand-alone condiment, it can also be used in a variety of dipping sauces and dressings or as a substitute for chili peppers in many recipes. Although I sometimes miss the convenience of the squeeze bottle, the flavour and health trade-offs of sambal oelek are well worth it. The first noticeable differences between hot sauce, sambal, pastes and sriracha are simply their countries of origin.
Pastes: most all countries having a hot paste to call their own. Sriracha: though being Thai in origins, most are more familiar with the bastardized American version of this sauce. Countries of origin directly influence ingredients typically used in each and in turn flavor profiles differ as a result.
Asia using common ingredients like tamarind, shrimp pastes and ginger where the Americas typically use vinegar and fruits. Fermentation goes a long way to bring an umami funk to all these ingredients. Finally, the method of "how is it made" goes a long way in how the ingredients are represented, presented and respected. Some are chunky, some are fresh straight pastes and many resemble a more ketchup type consistency.
Let's start with Pastes: Chili Pastes: Most all countries have a version of a hot condiment or paste which is essentially just that, the local chili peppers of the region are ground into a paste via a mortar and pestle. From here they might be seasoned with only salt, a sweetener or one or two other herbs and spices and perhaps thinned to a more dipping sauce consistency or rounded out with a Umami ingredient like dried shrimp or through fermentation. Pretty much everything falls under the umbrella of chili paste and for anywhere you can stab your finger at the map, you'll find a complimentary hot condiment for that region.
I've listed some favorites and a few lesser known. Every household will have it's own variation and family recipes of these. Some are sweet, others meaty or bright and fresh in flavor. My Favorites. Nam Prik Pao: Thailand. I love this bad boy. Classically Thai in that clash of sweet, sour, savory, umami and spice. A very sweet jammy medium heat paste. Great for seafood, noodles and stir-fry.
Made chunky, with scallions, garlic, palm sugar, dried shrimp, and fish sauce which helps rounds out the sweetness with a salty savoriness.
Great fun; unmistakable flavor, I love it!!! Found in Asian supermarkets labeled chili paste in soy bean oil, but plenty of recipes online to build your own. Harissa: Tunisia. Another "more than just chili" chili paste. Full of cumin, fennel seed, caraway, garlic, sometimes tomato or lemon juice, usually roasted red pepper. Great for meats, seafood, eggs, and tagine. Our Moroccan Tomato Onion Relish is all this but without the heat.
Full of flavor, an Australian favorite. S'rug: Yemenite. Similar to South America chimichurri, and North Africa's Chermoula, by that I mean its a herb packed, bright and fresh hot sauce.
Different by the fact it lacks the acid of a vinegar or preserved lemon as in the other two, but all are full of cumin, garlic, coriander seed, chili and fresh coriander and brought together with olive oil. A bright fresh full flavored paste. Think hummus, falafel and lamb as pairings for this one. Gochujang: Korea.
Traditionally, it has been naturally fermented for months even over years in large earthern pots outdoors. Once fermented, the gochujang resembles tomato paste in color and texture, and has a similar earthy sweetness punctuated by a bite of lingering heat from the red chiles. Gochujang is similar to sriracha in taste, but there are some key differences. The fermentation of the glutamates in red chiles produces an almost meaty flavor in the background.
Although everything in this post is a hot sauce, when I hear "hot sauce" as the only name used, I think about it in the Caribbean, Louisiana sense of the word and by that I mean vinegar based. Sometimes sugar is added along with fruit or vegetables and the variations on chili peppers used leads to a greater variance in heat or what is referred to as the Scoville scale. Some are thin, others resemble more a ketchup consistency like ancho chili paste.
Earlier American versions of hot sauce often used a milder Tabasco or cayenne pepper where as Caribbean and South American versions used hot mustard and the very hot Scotch Bonnet or Habanero pepper and were often balanced by fruits or a little sugar. Now I'm not here to listen to your hero's encounter of the hottest hot sauce you ever tried and how you had to sign a waiver before trying it and now your big man on campus Leap Day Feb.
To celebrate, check out this list of 29 signs that validate your Sriracha obsession. How many are true for you?
Chewy and chocolatey with a hint of chili heat. We understand this is a big step in our relationship. Fear of commitment? How about an Instagram follow? Patents Granted And Pending.
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