After reading Frito Lay’s announcement on its grand-prize new flavor winner, cheesy garlic bread, with sriracha and chicken & waffles as runners-up, I wondered if people really know what sriracha is all about. Most people know it as spicy Asian sauce, but it’s a particular Thai chili sauce.
Sriracha is a name of an eastern seaboard town in Chonburi province where the sauce was first created. The traditional sauce is made of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt and comes in mild and medium levels of spiciness. It has a very smooth texture similar to ketchup but is slightly runnier. The more popular and familiar American version has a thicker texture, is more paste-like, and has a spicier flavor.
In Thailand, sriracha is the most popular and versatile dipping sauce. The Thais eat it with omelets, steamed pork dumplings, pork buns, and various types of fried food. It’s also used as condiment in beef noodle soup, similar to Vietnamese Pho and Hoy-Tod, a savory mussel pancake and a well-known street food.
In my own kitchen, I use both the traditional Thai version that I purchase from an oriental grocery and the American made one for additional kick. I use them in my spicy sushi rolls just like ones you find at sushi restaurants, and I also add it to other sauces to add more zing. Whenever my palette craves some heat, I reach for sriracha.
I often use sriracha and a few other easy-to-find ingredients to make a dipping sauce that I serve with grilled meat.
¼ cup Sriracha sauce
¼ cup Thai sweet chili sauce
½ Tablespoon fish sauce
1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 Tablespoon chopped green onion (green parts only)
Juice of half a lime
Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Keep in a refrigerator for up to a week.
