Fermented Chilli Hot Sauce

Place a large, clean glass jar onto a digital scale and tare it to zero.

Add the garlic, whole stemless chillies, leeks, and tomatoes to the jar.

Use a wooden plunger or spoon to pack all the vegetables firmly down into the jar.

Pour enough spring water into the jar to completely submerge the packed vegetables.

Check the total weight displayed on the scale, calculate 2% of that weight, and weigh out that exact amount of sea salt.

Sprinkle the weighed salt directly over the liquid in the jar.

Fold a chard leaf and press it on top of the vegetables to act as a plug, keeping all pieces submerged beneath the water level.

Place a glass fermentation weight on top of the leaf plug to weigh everything down below the brine.

Seal the jar lid tightly and shake thoroughly to dissolve the salt into a brine.

Store the jar at room temperature in a dark area to ferment.

Then 5 min of waiting

Once fermented, drain the vegetables (reserving some brine) and blend in a high-speed blender until completely smooth, adding splash of brine if needed to adjust thickness.