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Mojo Rojo

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Ingredients

Makes 250ml

  • 2 red peppers

  • 1 red chilli (fresh or dried)

  • 4 garlic cloves

  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

  • 1 tsp dried oregano

  • 1 tsp ground cumin

  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

  • pinch of salt

Method

If you are using a dried chilli you will first need to put it in a jug of boiling water for 15 minutes to rehydrate. This will allow it to blend better and give you a smoother sauce.


Once done deseed the peppers and the chilli then chop roughly and throw in a blender. To this add roughly chopped garlic, smoked paprika, oregano, cumin and the vinegar.


Now give it a good blitz up.


Next pour the mixture into a small saucepan and bring to a slow simmer to reduce it for 10 to 15 minutes until when you scrape a spoon across the bottom it oozes back rather than flows. Then leave to cool before finishing off. This allows all the flavours to really combine and gives you a more luxurious sauce.


Lastly pour the cooled sauce back into a blender and add the olive oil and salt to taste. Blending until smooth.


Now traditionally serve with some small potatoes or a few chunks of bread for dipping. Alternatively it goes lovely poured over griddled aubergines for a tapas dish.

The Canarians know their sauces and this red pepper sauce or "mojo rojo" recipe is absolutely fantastic. The influences from North Africa really blend well with the traditional spanish flavours.


My version takes a little longer than most as I like to cook down the sauce instead of thickening it with bread to really intensify the flavour. I just found that of all those I've tried my favourites were often done this way.


What I loved when learning about this sauce was how much it was used for and how every chef has their own way of making it so you never really have the same sauce twice. Often when visiting you only see it with the canarian potatos as a dipping sauce but it's actually used in a wide variety of dishes both as a side or as part of another recipe.

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