Basbaas

A table sauce and its name

Basbaas is the Somali word for chilli or pepper, and it is also the name of a family of hot sauces. The sauce is meant for the table: each person adds as much heat as they want to the food on their plate. The sources do not describe one fixed recipe, and the family covers at least a green version, a coconut version and a cooked tomato-based chutney.

The name is used in more than one way. The Xawaash recipe page for its tomato chutney lists Shidni, Shigni and Basbaas Alla-bari among its names, and explains the last as feast hot sauce. Alla-bari is a large prayer gathering followed by a feast. The chutney is therefore tied to celebration rather than to daily meals. The page says it is not everyday Somali food. The tomato chutney has its own record, shidni, which is linked from this page.

Green basbaas and the coconut version

The green sauce known as basbaas cagaar is built on fresh green chilli peppers and onion. Basbaas cagaar is the form the Wikipedia article describes, and the same article treats the coconut version as a variant: dried shredded coconut makes basbaas qumbe. The article gives those core ingredients and one preparation detail, that leaving the seeds in increases the heat. It states no proportions, no method beyond blending or chopping and no date.

Heat is the main variable the sources name. The green sauce is hotter when the seeds stay in, which the Wikipedia article states directly, and a milder sauce comes from removing them, as the Africa on the Blog method advises for its own recipe. The sources give no measure of heat for basbaas specifically.

Cooked and tomato-based versions

Many Somali home versions of basbaas-style sauces add tomato, tamarind and garlic, and some are cooked. The simplest version described in the sources is a blend of tamarind paste, diced tomatoes, green chillies, garlic and salt, fried in oil for about five minutes with the pan covered because the sauce spatters. That version is the everyday shidni. The more elaborate Xawaash chutney adds dates, mango, tomato paste, sugar and vinegar and cooks for about two hours; that version is documented on its own record.

The difference between the green sauce and the cooked sauce is the cooking. A green basbaas is fresh and blended or pounded. A cooked version is fried or simmered, which changes its colour, softens the chilli and lets tomato and tamarind thicken it. The sources keep the two forms within one family, with separate methods.

Eating it and handling the heat

The sauce is put on the table so that each person can adjust the heat of their own plate. The sources name the table use as the point of the family; they do not describe a fixed set of dishes for the green sauce.

When a sauce is too hot, the Africa on the Blog advice is to drink milk or yoghurt rather than water. The same page gives no further handling rule for chillies, so none is recorded here.

What the sources leave open

The sources give no proportions for the green sauce, no yield, no preparation time and no storage time for a fresh sauce. The Xawaash page says its cooked, oil-based chutney keeps in the fridge for several months, but that claim belongs to its own method and cannot be carried over to a fresh green basbaas. No origin date or first-attested source for the family has been found.