This Western African ata sauce is a awesome spicy dip to be used with cold shrimp or for mostly anything that you want a spicy taste. The paprika is “toasted” before it is added to bring out its characteristic flavor. In the image you will see this “Homemade Chili Sauce” which you can get in any grocery store. This is the foundation of this recipe is the Homade Chili Sauce shown the bottle in the image below. Homade is an all natural sweet and tangy chili sauce packaged in a distinctive spherical bottle with an angled label that gives it a homemade look.
Ingredients
Ata Sauce
- 1 cup chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons Red Pepper Paste
- 1 dozen chilled cooked shrimp
Red Pepper Paste
- 1/4 cup dry red wine
- 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 of a medium onion
- 1 small clove garlic
- 1/4 cup paprika
Directions
- To prepare Red Pepper Paste, process all Paste ingredients except paprika in blender until smooth, scraping sides of blender frequently.
- Heat paprika in 1-quart saucepan 1 minute. Add spice mixture gradually, stirring until smooth. Heat, stirring occasionally, until hot, about 3 minutes. Cool.
- To prepare Sauce, mix together chili sauce and only 2 tablespoons Red Pepper Sauce (reserve rest in refrigerator for use at another time).
- Serve Sauce with chilled cooked shrimp.