6x hot in the kitchen

The hotter the better, we think, when we plop a generous dollop of heat next to our meal. Whether you use it to give the dipping sauce for dumplings more kick or to pour over your Indian chicken: we always have these spicy flavour boosters in the fridge.

Crispy chili oil

This chili oil is perfect to use with black vinegar or soy sauce as a dipping sauce for dumplings. It contains crispy chili flakes that give your dish, besides the necessary heat, a delicious crunch. The flavour is sweet and smoky. You’ll want to spoon this over everything.

How to make Lille-style fried potatoes

Sriracha

Probably the hot sauce with the most fans: everyone loves Sriracha, and by now it is eaten all over the world. There are even key rings featuring it, so you can always carry the hot sauce with you. Spicy and refreshingly tangy: Sriracha is delicious with any Asian dish, on a peanut butter sandwich or simply mixed into mayonnaise.

Sambal

Oelek, badjak or manis: whatever your favourite sambal is, it makes everything taste better. Essential with an Indonesian rice table, but also delicious on a peanut butter and cucumber sandwich. If you don’t handle spicy flavours well, go for sambal manis: it is sweeter than it is spicy.

Gochujang

This Korean chili paste made from fermented soybeans is very savoury and spicy. Korean fried chicken can’t do without this sticky paste, but it is also delicious mixed into mayonnaise, stews or dressings, and of course indispensable when you make your own kimchi.

Tabasco

Tabasco on your nachos, on your fried chicken or in marinades. Our favourites are the chipotle and green jalapeño varieties, but we also drizzle the classic red one over everything.

Go-tan chili sauce

The chili sauce you know from your cheese sticks and flaming hot snacks, but this one contains no chunks. It is slightly spicier and sweeter, and we never eat a spring roll without this supermarket sauce on the side.