Sluttishly Savoury: Smoky Chilli Sauce

It's cold and miserable outside so get some heat going with this homemade chilli sauce, it's dead easy to make and is amazing on a bacon sarnie (also chillies are great for hangovers so it makes that bleary eyed medicinal bacon sarnie all the more potent).

You can buy chipotle chillies from most supermarkets, they are often in the posh food section next to the dried porcini mushrooms and really expensive balsamic vinegars, and Asda now do really ace jars of chipotle for about £2.50 that will last you ages. I use blackberry vinegar in mine as I really like the sweetness and fruitiness it brings but you could use sherry or red wine vinegar instead and add a tablespoon of golden syrup to add the sweetness if you prefer. The cherry peppers are in all the supermarkets in glass jars, go for the ones in vinegar rather than oil

The sugar and vinegar are preservatives which help extend the life of this in your fridge. I've had bottles in there for a month and the flavour improves every day but this sauce basically replaced my need for tomato ketchup so it never lasts very long. Dunk your chips in it, smear it over a scotch egg, pop it on your burgers and feel instantly warmed.

You'll need:

• 250g cherry peppers, drained
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 chipotle chillies, chopped
• thumb sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried chilli flakes
• 1 tablespoon dried onion granules
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 200ml olive oil
• 400ml blackberry vinegar (or red wine/sherry vinegar, add 1 tablespoon golden syrup if not using fruit vinegar)
• salt and pepper to taste

Make it!

1. Put the first 8 ingredients into a saucepan and warm gently, let it bubble for 3 minutes then add the olive oil and blackberry vinegar and continue to heat gently for another 3 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and blitz in a food processor/blender until smooth. You can strain it through a sieve for a really smooth sauce but I like it quite chunky. 
3. Taste and add salt and pepper and perhaps a bit more golden syrup if you want it a little sweeter then decant into sterilised bottles and leave to cool before putting it on EVERYTHING.