Llajua Hot Sauce [Recipe]

Llajua is a chili sauce prepared from rocotos (Capsicum pubescens) hot chili peppers, and tomatoes. It's best if mixed by hand with a mortar and pestle. While it can be prepared in a blender, the mixture will foam up creating the wrong texture. It's traditionally served as a dip that can do on anything and everything! 

Ingredients

• 3 medium-sized dark heirloom tomatoes, chopped and de-seeded
• ½, 1 or 2 de-seeded rocoto peppers or to taste 
• 1 small sprig quirquiña
• 1 ½ tsp. coarse kosher salt

Preparation

1. Carefully grind the pepper in the mortar with a bit of the salt, before adding slices of the tomato and grinding well. Work in batches to assure the skin is ground-up very well. 
2. Then, towards the very end, add the quirquiña to the final grinding. Serve with anything.

Cooking Notes

• You can substitute the Chile Manzano or Serrano peppers for the Rocoto. And the quirquiña can be substituted with cilantro mixed with basil and arugula.