What is Chili Vinegar Sauce?
Chili vinegar sauce is a Thai condiment made from hot chili peppers and vinegar. This sauce is thin, red and has a heat that is fairly intense, balanced gently by the sour taste of vinegar.
What does Chili Vinegar Sauce Taste Like?
...Sour is one of the five main tastes. It is tart and bright, sometimes with a mouth-puckering quality. Sour is a naturally occurring flavor found in many foods, including citrus, vinegar, various dairy products, and certain fruits. Sour is used to enhance a dish or drink and is used as both a main and complimentary flavor.
...Spicy is a flavor that brings heat and fire to food by creating a burning sensation in the mouth or sinuses. Spicy flavors come from hot peppers, horseradish, and wasabi. Spicy adds a kick and sometimes complexity to a dish and releases endorphins, creating a mildly addictive quality.
Ingredients
...Botanically the chili pepper is a fruit, in culinary terms it is a vegetable. There are a number of varieties of red chili peppers. Some common ones used for spice powders and seasonings include the piri piri, cayenne, and chile de árbol, among others. Each pepper is red and has a thin skin with a thin flesh and seeds inside the middle of the pepper. The shape varies, but is often thin and tapered. The heat level varies also, depending on the type of pepper. Some are mildly hot, while other red chilies are scorching and fiery. The pepper can be used fresh in many dishes, as well as dried or powdered.
...The green chili pepper is a spicy vegetable by culinary standards, but botanically it's a fruit. Green chili peppers have thin, green bodies with a tapered bottom. They are 2-3 inches in length with a one inch diameter. Their skin is a medium shade of green and is shiny and very thin. The flesh of the pepper is thin too and contains hot seeds in its center. It is an extra hot chili with a wonderful flavor and used in many dishes to add heat.
...Rice vinegar is sometimes confused with rice wine vinegar and while both are made from fermented rice, each is different. Rice vinegar is made by fermenting the sugars in rice and then turning it into an acid. Rice vinegar is more delicate than other vinegars, such as white or red. The flavor of this pale yellow liquid is tangy, sweet and mild. It is used as a seasonings in some East Asian cuisines.