Habanero deliciousness

May 17, 2017 8:45 AM

Please help me identify this delicious Mexican hot oil.

I was in Mexico last week and ate at a restaurant that had some amazing homemade sauces on the table. One of them blew my mind. It was a hot oil – smoky, spicy oil (possibly olive) studded with tiny black specks. It looked simply like seasoning powder mixed into oil. But I asked the server and he told me it was grilled, ground habanero peppers along with garlic mixed into the oil. Ok, the grilling explains the rich smokiness. But I have a hard time imagining that ground peppers would look like black specks – I’d think they’d be more of a paste consistency? Am I off base here? I’d love to either buy this oil or make it at home. Can anyone tell me more about it? A name, a link, a recipe? It was truly amazing!

posted by yawper to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

this recipe cooks the oil with the habaneros and the garlic and then discards them at the end. it's possible the restaurant did just this, but with fire roasted habaneros, which would explain the black specks.
posted by koroshiya at 9:36 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Could they have used dried habanero? Dried habanero toasted on the grill and then broken down into the oil.
posted by Swisstine at 11:44 AM on May 17, 2017

Best answer: Did the sauce look something like this? Salsas that have a lot of oil are usually made with dried peppers. Some of these salsas are specific to a state and/or city. Where were you? Try to google the city and state + salsa and see if you can find the recipe.
posted by vivzan at 2:14 PM on May 17, 2017

Response by poster: "macha" is the keyword I needed, thank you! The one I had did not contain any pepper seeds (which is why I thought it was seasoning powder). I was in Cozumel when I had it.
posted by yawper at 11:03 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

OMG make the Morita one as soon as you get the chance, it's amazing.
posted by aspersioncast at 9:53 AM on May 23, 2017