Hawaii's Share Your Table

Which chili garlic sauce to use?

There are many chili garlic sauces produced in Asia, some searingly hot and others more flavorful than spicy. To mix with mayonnaise, use Sriracha or Sambal Oelek.

Sriracha is a smooth, ketchup-like sauce that includes tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar with chilis. This is a good all purpose chili condiment and the Huy Fong brand is the most ubiquitous with its green capped squeeze bottle.

Huy Fong Foods also makes sambal oelek, a simple bright red chili sauce of ground up chilis and their seeds, vinegar and garlic. This sauce has a sour note and is very spicy; it is packaged in a green topped plastic jar.

The combination of chili sauce and mayonnaise can be addictive: use it with crisp fried foods, in sandwiches, as a dip for raw vegetables or for sashimi. The creamy texture and heat kick make this an all purpose sauce.