Lizano Sauce
I was doing the research on Gallo Pinto and came across this sauce.Never heard about it before.I found out that it is one of the most popular sauce of Costa Rica.Like as common as salsa and chips are in this part of the Texas or chutney in India.Surprisingly i did not had much luck finding out the homemade recipe for it.I settled on this Lizano recipe with little adaptation from my pantry.
- I keep chili flakes and not the dry chilies in hand.So i toasted two tablespoon of dry chili flakes on skillet.
- Molasses is another item which my pantry did not have.So i substituted it with honey.It helps with the color too.
- I did not have broth,so i used 1 chicken Bouillon cube.
- I noticed the sauce contains other veggies like cauliflower,i stayed with carrots alone.4-5 baby carrots.
- Sauce was too thin,so i added corn starch and cooked it little to thicken it.If you used dry chili and made a paste out of it,you may not need the thickener.It will also add the brown color to the sauce,kind of like enchilada sauce made with dry chili.
- I added this sauce to Gallo Pinto.
Gallo Pinto with Lizano Sauce | handfulofjoy.com
Now even after all this variation,if you can call this Lizano ,then well it is.Sweet,spicy,tangy and overall yummy at the same time 🙂
Lizano Sauce
Ingredients
- 4-5 baby carrots
- 1/2 small yellow onion
- 1-1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoon dry chili flakes
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 medium lemon squeezed juice
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons fine salt
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1 teaspoon corn starch to thicken
Spices
To thicken
Instructions
- In a skillet,toast cumin and chili flakes.
- Grind it in spice grinder.
- In a blender,add rest of the ingredients and puree.
- Pour the content out in a small pot.
- Make a slurry of corn starch in 2 tablespoon of water.
- Add this back to the pot.
- Bring it to boil and simmer until it thickens.
- Store.
