How Sarah Todd wants you to taste flavours from around the world through sauces

About two and a half years ago in Melbourne Masterchef Australia judge and chef George Calombaris had to cook an Indian curry for an event at his restaurant He called up good friend and former finalist Sarah Todd asking her where he could source Indian Kashmiri chilli tomato paste from Todd jumped in to make the sauce from scratch She sent him a batch using ingredients from her pantry A thank you message on social media by Calombaris soon inundated Toddrsquos inboxVada pav with sriracha sauce right samosa with Kashmiri chilli tomato sauceThe idea to create a line of sauces began fermenting in her head She pictured a line of sauces that was great to stock at home and easy to add to daily cooking too Two years in the making Todd has named her line of sauces Hot Toddy which first launched in Australia three months ago ldquoIt took a couple of years to develop and test the recipes I wanted a batch that consumers could cook with and use as a side dip too We worked with Italian glass bottlemakers so that they would look good enough to earn pride of place at the table While the chillies are sourced from India the rest of the ingredients are locally sourced from places around Australia where the sauces are produced and bottledrdquo Todd tells us in between her promotions in the city for the new sauces The sauces are glutenfree and vegan with no artificial colours or preservatives with a yearlong shelf life ldquoWe will roll them out online and hope to place them even at restaurants The sauces are designed to let you taste the world one chilli at a timerdquoSabudana vada with sweet chilli sauceOn Toddrsquos behest we try the sriracha with vada pav For a Mumbaikar what extra addition do we need to our state staple we wondered The Japanese sauce has a sevenspice shichimi mix with pickled chilli and cayenne pepper It gives the vada pav a bold chilli hit which doesnrsquot make us miss the dry lasun chutney The sweet chilli we try with a plate of sabudana vadas We dunk the farali snack which already has a bland clean flavour profile into the Thai sauce A jammy consistency perks our palate and the sweet of sugar and sour of vinegar gets our vote We like the tropical punch that livens up the humble snack We introduce the robust samosa to try the Kashmiri tomato sauce which apes the ketchup Javed Jaffreyrsquos words from the iconic Maggi sauce ad resonates ldquoItrsquos differentrdquo We love it for the depth of smokiness and fermented chilli flavour The texture is smooth and the sweetness of tomatoes lingers for a whileThe last two sauces are tobacco drop sauces which means they are fiery and just a few drops are enough to cast their chilli spell on the palate We have a midlevel heat threshold and so we try it on plain bread with caution The ghost chilli sauce which has bhut jolokia chillies 6 per cent and birdrsquos eye chilli 12 per cent is not to be feared we find out It has the tangy presence of pineapple as we first taste a tepache fermented pineapple drink made from rinds the hit of the chillies is a backdoor entry without much hullabaloo The birdrsquos eye chilli sauce is our favourite it has the sweetness of mango puree and the kick of vinegar The chillies are moderately fiery which is ensured by controlling the amount of chillies added to the sauce per batch This Todd says is an Aussie sauce that goes in salads and even in cookingTodd suggests that the Kashmiri tomato sauce can be used to make spaghetti the Asian sauces can be paired with spring rolls or added to soup while the hotter sauces can be spread on pizza We are happy to sign up for that missionLog on to Hot Toddy is available on leading online stores including amazonin flipkartin Big Basket and Reliance FreshCost Rs 749 to Rs 849