Serrano peppers, ginger, and garlic are blended into a paste that can be frozen and used throughout the year in a variety of recipes. This simple vegan and gluten free paste is a great way to use and preserve a large amount of hot peppers!
One of the lesser talked about topics when it comes to eating seasonally is preserving. It’s one of those lost homesteading practices that has recently been making a resurgence. Preserving originated in a time when refrigeration wasn’t an option and you had to be able to feed yourself during the leaner winter months. It was also a way to extend your harvest in case you were suddenly burdened with pounds and pounds of tomatoes for instance and needed a way to lengthen their shelf life before they all spoiled.
Though the poster child for preserving tends to be fruit-based jams and jellies, this art extends to sauces, pickles, fermentation, drying, dehydrating, and even freezing. Using your freezer is actually one of the easiest ways to preserve as it doesn’t involve special equipment or much of a time commitment. You simply prep what you have and put it in the freezer. AND THAT’S IT. Typically it will last anywhere from 6 to 12 months or even longer.
Stuck with a recent glut of serrano peppers that I most assuredly could not eat before they went bad, I decided to preserve them for the cooler days. Despite keeping my serrano pepper plant in a pot, I’ve been able to get several harvests over the last 6 weeks. The first harvest went into this salsa along with the tomatoes from my garden. The subsequent harvests yielded around 25 peppers and this mighty little plant is still producing! In order to savor these spicy peppers well into the fall and winter I blended them up into a paste with garlic, ginger root, and a little water. I then parked it in my freezer to hang out until I can use it to flavor soups, curries, veggies, or any other dish that I want to add a bit of heat to.
Equipment Needed for This Recipe
- A cutting board and knife to prepare your chilis, garlic, and ginger
- A blender or food processor to blend everything into a paste
- An ice cube tray or mini muffin tin for portioning and freezing your paste
- A freezer bag or jar to store your paste in the freezer
Recipes That Work Well with this Paste
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Soup (add the paste along with the sweet potatoes and omit the chili flakes and granulated garlic)
- Coconut Milk Braised Collard Greens (omit the red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic from the recipe and use the paste instead along with the other spices)
Chili Ginger Garlic Paste
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 heaping cup
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Serrano peppers, ginger, and garlic are blended into a paste that can be frozen and used throughout the year in a variety of recipes. This simple vegan and gluten free paste is a great way to use and preserve a large amount of hot peppers!
Ingredients
- 18–20 serrano peppers, (this was roughly a cup of halved peppers)
- 8–10 garlic cloves (use more if you like or omit altogether if you’re allergic)
- 4-inch piece of ginger root
- 2 to 3 tbsp of water
Instructions
Cut your peppers in half lengthwise. Remove as many of the veins and seeds as you want depending on how spicy you’d like. My peppers were quite hot so I ended up removing most of the veins and seeds. Roughly chop the ginger root and garlic cloves.
Add all of the ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Portion the paste into the wells of a mini muffin tin or an ice cube tray. Place the tray in the freezer and allow it to freeze overnight.
The next day, remove the tray from the freezer and remove your frozen cubes of chili paste. Add your frozen cubes to a freezer safe bag then squeeze as much air out of it as possible before sealing. Place that bag into a second freezer bag (double bagging will help deter freezer burn) and seal. Label with the date and your contents.
When you want to use the paste, you can either use it directly from the freezer and into a hot pan or you can thaw it first in the fridge.
Notes
- You can use whatever hot pepper you like here in place of the serranos.
- My peppers were quite hot so I ended up removing the veins and seeds. Pro-tip: If you happen to have a grapefruit spoon, it’s perfect for this task!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: condiment
