Ají picante (Colombian table ají)

A table condiment for fried and filled dishes

Ají picante is a fresh Colombian hot condiment. It is served with empanadas and carimañolas, and is usually set on the table so that each diner adds heat to their own plate.

It combines chopped or blended chile with scallion, herbs and tomato in an acidic base of vinegar and lime. Its liquid is thin, so the balance between liquid and suspended pieces matters.

Name and older Andean sauces

The name ají comes from ají pods and from an adaptation of the Taino word axí. Ají sauces have been made across Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru since pre-Hispanic times, when the Quechua called the chile uchu.

The page describes the Peruvian sauce as possibly the oldest of the group. It does not date the Colombian table sauce itself.

Chopping or blending

The liquid base is made by blending the pepper with vinegar and water. The other vegetables are chopped, and the page does not say whether chopping or blending them is preferred. Some cooks chop by hand for a chunkier texture; sources differ on whether tomato belongs in the sauce at all.

Lime juice and oil are mixed into the chopped solids, and the blended vinegar is poured in and stirred through.

Regional relatives

The page lists related sauces: ajilimójili in Panama, a chile, garlic, oil, paprika and lime mix; a honeyed Puerto Rican version; the Ecuadorian ají with lupin seeds called chochos; the Chilean version, where lemon stands out; and the criolla sauce of Argentina, which is less spicy and has less citrus.

These are related sauces, not the same recipe, and are kept as separate records.

Storage

The page says to refrigerate the sauce in a covered glass jar for up to ten days.