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Sauce

Hot Aji Salsa

A spicy Peruvian sauce made with chilies, onion, garlic, peanuts, crackers, cheese, milk, cilantro, and lemon.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Hot Aji Salsa

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Saute the chilies, onion and garlic in a tablespoon of the oil until soft.

  2. Place the mixture in a blender or food processor along with the peanuts, crackers, cheese, milk and cilantro and puree until smooth.

  3. Add the lemon juice and, with the machine running, add the oil a little at a time until the sauce is the desired consistency.

Serve and store

  1. Heat before serving, and store any extra in the refrigerator.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

988Calories
37 gProtein
39 gFat
124 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Mozzarella Cheese1 oz (28g)85
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Roasted Peanutnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Garlic + peanuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together877 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  4. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Onion + peanuttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,043 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chilies
Provide the heat and the main pepper flavor of the salsa.
Roasted peanuts
Add body and richness, thickening the puree into a creamy texture.
Saltine crackers
Absorb liquid and help thicken the sauce to a smooth consistency.
Mozzarella cheese
Adds creaminess and body, helping the sauce hold together when heated.
Evaporated milk
Adds creaminess and smoothness, softening the heat of the chilies.
Vegetable oil
Adds fat and smooth body as it is emulsified into the puree.

The step that matters

Adding the oil slowly while the machine runs. Adding oil gradually to a running blender lets it emulsify into the puree, giving a smooth, stable sauce. Dumping it in at once can split the mixture and leave it greasy or thin.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, peanut, mozzarella cheese, evaporated milk, pepper):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, peanut, mozzarella cheese, evaporated milk, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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