Poncho 8 Garlic Chilli

Fans of top Spitalfields and St Paul’s eatery Poncho 8 may be interested to know that their sauces are now available to buy and take home, allowing you to recreate their Mexican masterpieces in your own kitchen.

We decided to try the Garlic Chilli sauce, but what to make with it? It’s a relatively spicy paste, not painfully fiery, but it definitely packs a punch. If you like your food on the piquant side you may try a dollop on a cheeseburger straight off the barbecue or if you were feeling particularly brave, perhaps as a dipping sauce with a big bag of nachos.
We, however, value our tongues, so we decided to use it to make a marinade in a chicken fajita recipe. You’ll never win any awards or impress your friends by using a store-bought powder mix, real foodies make their own sauce.

Here’s London Larder’s own recipe for Poncho 8 fajitas (serves 3-4 hungry people).

Prep: Mix 5 teaspoons of Poncho 8 Garlic Chilli sauce with 200g of natural Greek yoghurt. Feel free to stick your finger in and have a taste – if it’s not spicy enough, then add more sauce. If it’s too spicy then man up and carry on! Dice 3-4 large chicken breasts and add to the marinade, stir thoroughly and place in the fridge for 5-6 hours to absorb the flavours.

To cook: Fry a large sliced white onion in a little oil until soft, and then add the chicken and a little of the yoghurt marinade. No need to use all the sauce, unless you like particularly soggy fajitas. Fry on a low heat until the chicken is cooked through and then add sliced green and red peppers. When these have softened, add half a dozen sliced large mushrooms.

As the mixture simmers, prepare your side dishes. Grate 50g of cheddar cheese and chop a small amount of lettuce, cucumber and tomato to top the fajitas. Small bowls of guacamole, salsa and sour cream complete the side dishes. Finally, warm the tortillas briefly under a hot grill and serve the chicken and vegetable mixture for your guests to create their own wraps.

The fieriness of the sauce is tempered by the yoghurt, but the chilli has permeated through the chicken giving it a lip-smacking kick. Marinating the meat takes very little effort but has such an impact on the taste that its hard to imagine ever going back to packet mix. It’s clear why Poncho 8’s restaurants are so successful, they clearly understand what it takes to make a great sauce, the only way this could be better is if their chef came to your house and cooked it for you.

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