This sauce is a BA magazine cover recipe so I figured it had to be good. It’s a red, salsa-like sauce advertised as “spicy and deep in umami”. I watched Chef Yia Vang, of Union Hmong Kitchen in Minneapolis, make it on BA’s Instagram stories and had to have it. In the recipe, the sauce acts as a topper for tri tip steak but I felt like it was actually begging to be put on shrimp tacos.
The sauce itself is fairly straightforward. The only exotic ingredient you need are Thai chiles, I actually subbed red jalapeños because my quarantine options were limited. The base is grilled cherry tomatoes. I’m a firm believer that plain tomatoes are overhyped (convince me otherwise, I dare you), but if you give them a little heat and char, then they come to life.
The sauce is delicious and I’d highly recommend eating with tacos or anything else you’d put salsa on. I plan to use plain tortilla chips as a vessel to shovel the remaining sauce into my mouth later today. The spice level is completely dependent on how hot your chiles are, so you have some control there. If you want less liquid, I’d recommend squeezing out the tomatoes before adding them. Overall, this is a great staple sauce to make regularly.
Rating: 9/10
Dishes: Moderate
Would make again: Indeed
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