Hot sauces

Shito

Name: Shito
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Cuisine: African
Ingredients: 2 (300g) onions, roughly chopped; 8 cloves (40g) garlic; 50g fresh ginger, peeled; 250ml rapeseed oil; 40g tomato purée; 15g hot chilli powder; 10g chilli flakes; 30g dried shrimp, ground to a powder; 30g dried anchovies, ground to a powder; 1 stock cube, crumbled; 2g salt

A dark, rich Ghanaian chilli sauce of onion, garlic and ginger fried slowly in oil with tomato purée, dried shrimp and dried anchovies. Smoky, savoury and properly hot.

makes 37 cubes, about 12p each

Jump to recipe

Time: 1 hr 5 min15 min prep · 50 min cook
Makes: 37 cubes
Cost per cubePer cube: 12p
Calories per cubeCalories: 67 kcal
A serving: 1 cube
Spice

Ingredients

Batch size

cubes

2 (300g)onions, roughly chopped
8 cloves (40g)garlic
50gfresh ginger, peeled
250mlrapeseed oil
40gtomato purée
15ghot chilli powder
10gchilli flakes
30gdried shrimp, ground to a powder
30gdried anchovies, ground to a powder
1stock cube, crumbled
2gsalt

Allergens: Crustaceans, Fish. Check the labels on stock cubes, sauces and pastes, as brands vary.

Nutrition

estimated

	1 cube
Energy	67 kcal
Protein	1g
Carbs	1.7g
Fat	6.4g
Fibre	0.4g
Salt	0.32g

Method

Step 1: Blitz the onions, garlic and ginger to a smooth purée without adding water.
Step 2: Heat the oil in a deep, heavy pan over a medium heat. Add the purée carefully, as it spits, and fry, stirring often, until the water has cooked off and it turns golden brown. (25 min)
Step 3: Stir in the tomato purée and fry for 5 minutes until it darkens.
Step 4: Turn the heat to low and stir in the chilli powder, chilli flakes, ground shrimp and anchovies, stock cube and salt.
Step 5: Cook, stirring almost constantly, until the sauce is a very deep brown, nearly black, and the oil separates. Don't let it catch. (15 min)
Step 6: Cool completely, then stir so each cube gets oil and solids, spoon into 15ml trays and freeze.

Use it for

1 cubePlain rice, boiled yam or kenkey with a fried egg
1 cubeStirred through fried rice or noodles
1 cubeSpread in a sandwich with avocado or tomato

Nutrition (estimated)
	kcal	protein	carbs	fat	fibre	salt
Per cube	67	1g	1.7g	6.4g	0.4g	0.32g

Cook’s notes

Use straight from frozen; the oil melts in a minute on hot rice or noodles.
Grind the dried shrimp and anchovies in a spice grinder or small blender; a fine powder melts into the sauce.
Use a splatter guard or a loose lid while the onion purée fries; it spits hard at first.
Always keep it frozen or in the fridge: garlic in oil must not sit at room temperature.

Use it for

Plain rice, boiled yam or kenkey with a fried egg · 1 cube
Stirred through fried rice or noodles · 1 cube
Spread in a sandwich with avocado or tomato · 1 cube

Freeze, reheat and serve

Freeze: Cool it within two hours, freeze it in 15ml ice-cube trays, then bag and label the cubes. It keeps for 6 months.
Use from frozen: Use straight from frozen; the oil melts in a minute on hot rice or noodles. Never refreeze thawed cubes.
A portion: 1 cube is a serving: about 67 kcal.

Shito questions

Where can I buy dried shrimp and anchovies?

African, Caribbean and Asian grocers sell both, and they are easy to find online. Dried anchovies are sometimes sold as ikan bilis or keta schoolboys; any small dried fish will do.

Why fry it so dark?

Cooking out all the water gives shito its deep, smoky flavour and lets the oil rise to the top, which keeps the sauce rich and spoonable. Keep the heat low and stir constantly at the end, because it goes from dark to burnt quickly.

Can I make it without fish or shrimp?

Swap both for 20g dried porcini or shiitake and 5g dried seaweed, ground to a powder, and use a vegetable stock cube. It loses its seafood depth but keeps the dark, savoury flavour, and it becomes vegan; the page's allergen labels stay as written.