Chilly with a Side of Chiles
50s? Hell yeah. I’m feeling nearly human again. Unfortunately, summer doesn’t peter out that rapidly. It’ll be back into the mid-80s by the weekend.
In the meantime, I got excited about impending dark, cool places to ferment things like the Hunan salted chiles I’ve been meaning to make from The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook for months. It’s not like it’s hard. All you do is chop a pound, which seriously kills your wrist (I was taking a break for the photo–the pieces eventually became smaller) then ultimately toss them with a ¼ cup of salt and let sit for a few weeks. Mine are only a few days old so they still look pretty fresh. I had no concept of how much one pound of chopped chiles would yield so I bought a too big canning jar. I don’t think the extra space should effect the process, though.
I’m just afraid they’ll rot instead of turning into a proper delicious condiment. My recent failed attempts at mayonnaise and ice cream making made me question my recipe following abilities. But chiles and salt? That’s hardly possible to mess up.
I see that Tigers and Strawberries made the same relish last month.
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Mine turned out great. I sliced mine thinly, and probably should have chopped them finer. The second batch I am making this week, I will chop finer.
They are delicious, though.