Aji Rojo Molido y Frito

Aji rojo and  aji amarillo sauce are used a lot in Bolivian recipes.I love making a large batch of this sauce and freeze it for when I need it to use. The process is very simple you just need to get the “vainas de aji rojo”, look at any latino bodega for them. They are called Aji Panca in Peru. Use gloves when you are  preparing,otherwise you might have spicy hands for a week. If you like really spicy food you can leave the seeds but I usually don’t. Also You can just freeze the sauce without cooking it. Just peel the peppers with hot water and using the blender make the paste and put it in a container and freeze it.

Serves 3 cups.

Ingredients

38  dried red chillies or ajis (Capsicum baccatum) (about 1/2 lb)

1 cup water

2 garlic clove peeled.

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preparation:

Cut the top with the stems out. You will see the seed inside.

Put the peppers in a large pot and cover them with water.

Cook them for half and hour or until the skin starts separating from the pepper.

Drained the hot water and move the pepper into cold water. Let it chill.

Using gloves, peel the skin and remove the seeds out.

Press the 2 garlics with a garlic press.

Put in a blender the peeled seedles pepper and the water, cumin, garlic, sugar and salt.

Blend until you have a smooth paste.

Heat the oil and add the paste to it. Cook for about 10 min or until the sauce gets tick enough that starts separating from the pan. You need to stir constantly.

To preserve the sauce freeze in in ice cube tray or mason jar. It freeze well up to 2 years.