Ghanaian · sauce/condiment

Shito (Black Pepper Sauce)

Shito (Black Pepper Sauce) reads umami 6.1, marine & briny 4.6 and salinity 4.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Ghanaian sauce/condiment, about 2 hr 7 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 7.2 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 3.3 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 2.1 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 0.9 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 4.8 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 3.8 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 6.1 · Marine & Briny 4.6 · Salinity 4.5 · Richness 3.7 · Nutty 3.6 · Allium 3.4 · Sweetness 2.9 · Warm Spice 2.9 · Sourness 2.0 · Fruity 1.5 · Funk & Ferment 1.0 · Floral 1.0 · Herbaceous 0.9 · Earthy 0.8 · Bitterness 0.7

What's in it (12)

• peanut oil — 460 g
• red onions — 500 g
• ground dried chilli — 100 g
• shrimp — 150 g
• dried herring — 100 g
• tomato paste — 70 g
• fresh ginger — 40 g
• garlic — 24 g
• crayfish — 15 g
• salt — 10 g
• ground cloves — 5 g
• water — 60 g

Time & effort: about 2 hr 7 min (1 hr 2 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 43.4 kcal, 3.2 g protein, 0.3 g fat, 7.2 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

1. Heat the groundnut oil in a wide heavy pan over medium heat and add the onion purée. Fry it, stirring often, for 25 to 35 minutes, until every trace of water has cooked off and the onions have gone dark brown and jammy. This is the long, patient part of shito and there is no way around it; sauce made from pale onions tastes raw and sweet instead of deep and smoky.
2. Add the blended ginger and garlic and cook 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the tomato paste and fry 5 minutes.
4. Add the ground chilli and cook 5 minutes, keeping the heat moderate. Ground chilli scorches in hot oil in seconds and burnt chilli cannot be recovered.
5. Add the ground shrimp, the ground herring, the crayfish, the cloves, the salt and the water, and cook over low heat 20 to 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until the mixture is almost black and a clear layer of oil sits above it.
6. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
7. Spoon into sterilised jars and top each with a 1 cm layer of its own oil to seal. It keeps 3 months in the refrigerator and improves for the first fortnight.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Shrimp and Broccoli Stir-Fry — Chinese-American
• Shrimp Teriyaki Stir-Fry — Japanese
• Glossy Shrimp and Vegetable Udon Stir-Fry — Japanese
• Shrimp Lo Mein — Chinese-American
• Singapore Noodles — Chinese-American

Keep reading: what umami, marine & briny, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.