You can make an easy sauce with the Tabasco or Thai peppers. Just get yourself an old spaghetti sauce jar, sterilize it, fill it full of peppers ( no need to even deseed them) then fill the jar with a vinegar of your choice. I use apple vinegar to make Tabasco sauce. Let the jar sit for anywhere from a couple of weeks until whenever you feel like making sauce. The acid from the vinegar will kill any bacteria so no worries there. It will also soften the peppers, which is what you want. When you are ready get yourself a blender or Smoothie maker. Dump the contents of the jar in and give it a whirl on high speed. The peppers, seeds and all, should vaporize. Fill the blender container with vinegar until just below where it would overflow at low to medium speed. Add salt to taste, give it a good whirl to mix it all up then bottle it. Can't get much easier than that. A spaghetti jar of peppers should yield about 3 pints of hot sauce. If you want to jazz it up you can add fruits like peaches, plums, mango, etc. to the mix.
If you want to step it up a level here is a Sriracha Sauce recipe that doesn't require fermentation. Even though the recipe calls for Jalapenos I have found that the same spaghetti sauce jar full of peppers mentioned above will work nicely:
Sriracha Recipe from Foolproof Preserving - America's Test Kitchen
Prep: 15 Minutes
Cook: 45 Minutes
Age: 1 Day
Yield: 2 Cups
Why this recipe works: Sriracha is a fiery-red Thai-American hot sauce fondly known
by its loyal followers as rooster sauce. Traditionally, Sriracha is made from a
fermented chile mash, which is a process that can take over a week. We wanted a
simple, streamlined version of rooster sauce we could make at home without the wait.
Our first test consisted of processing chiles, vinegar, water and garlic, along
with a bit of sugar and salt. We cooked the mixture down to a ketchup-like
consistency, which resulted in more of a chili-garlic paste than Sriracha. By
adjusting the ratio of liquid to chiles and garlic, we were on track to a pourable
hot sauce. We also swapped out white sugar in favor of brown; tasters preferred the
richer, deeper notes of the dark brown sugar. We were getting closer to a more
balanced hot sauce; however, we were missing the fermented flavor of the original.
To achieve the unique flavor, we whisked 2 tablespoons of fish sauce into the chile
mixture along with the sugar and salt. A quick simmer on the stovetop thickened the
Sriracha and allowed the flavors to meld. Passing the finished product through a
fine-mesh strainer gave us a smooth sauce.
Finally, we found it crucial to let the sauce sit for a day to develop its flavor
before serving. Although it's tempting to store this sauce in plastic squeeze
bottles, we found it better to store it in glass; the plastic can add off-flavors to
the sauce as it sits. This Sriracha cannot be processed for long term storage.
1 1/2 pounds red jalapeno or Fresno chiles, stemmed
1 1/4 cups distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup water
8 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
5 teaspoons salt
1. Working in 2 batches, process jalapenos, vinegar, water and garlic in blender
until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer mixture to medium saucepan and whisk in fish
sauce, sugar and salt.
2. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer,
skimming any surface foam, until thickened, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat
and let cool for 5 minutes.
3. Process mixture in blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Strain Sriracha through
fine-mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much sauce as
possible.
4. Using funnel and ladle, portion Sriracha into 2-cup glass bottle. Let sauce cool
to room temperature. Cover, refrigerate and let flavors mature for at least 1 day
before serving. Sriracha can be refrigerated for up to 6 months; flavor will mature
over time.
I will probably try the Sirachi sauce since it looks like it will store well, may try some Harrisa if I have some left over.
Have a great trip to Belgium! (Do they even have a representative government anymore? Or just bureaucracy and assorted judicial courts?) Enjoy some chocolate!