Massa de Malagueta / Portuguese Pepper Sauce

Massa de Malagueta is a fermented pepper paste used by the Portuguese as a condiment/marinade. This pepper paste can be found at large grocery stores, especially in neighborhoods abundantly populated with Portuguese folks. This paste, while  purchased conveniently at the grocery store, can also be made easily at home, and there really is a difference between store bought and homemade.  My parents used to make it when I was a kid and they stopped for whatever reason unknown to me, so  this year for the first time I’ve attempted to make it…..  and was successful 

There isn’t really a “recipe” for the malagueta, it’s just crushed or ground sweet red shepherd peppers that is salted with sea salt or kosher salt, covered, stirred twice a day and allowed to ferment. The massa de malagueta should taste quite salty. The fermentation process lasts about 7 days. During the fermentation, the ground pepper will separate and the ground pepper will sit on the top with the “water” just underneath it, and it will be sort of fizzy when stirred. Normally you will allow it to ferment in a cold room, if you don’t and your house is very warm the fermentation process will be never ending. Basically you know when the pepper paste is done when you go to stir it and it is no longer separated, doesn’t fizz, and it even smells different. At this point the malagueta is ready to be put into jars. The mason jars and lids should be sterilized, ( boiled in a large pot for about 10 minutes) and allowed to dried on a wire rack lid down. When filled the massa de malagueta can be topped off with a drizzle of olive oil.  AND THATS IT! totally easy and the homemade taste is definitely worth the little effort put in. Oh and the massa de malagueta should be refrigerated after being put in the jars.

I used the massa de malagueta for this very typical Azorean dish, Bifanas… Essentially pork cutlets marinated in massa de malagueta and garlic, and sometimes white wine, today I had no wine so I used only garlic and the malagueta and a touch of black pepper, again you don’t even need a recipe for this dish, you put as much sliced garlic as your heart desires and as much pepper paste as your taste buds can handle. I used pork tenderloin to make the “cutlets” just because I love how tender the pork tenderloin is. They are then fried in butter and that’s it. Simple and delicious, even better when you serve them in a paposeco or pao mafra spread with copious amounts of butter…..