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Chileans don’t like to put hot spices into their food. But they do often eat the spices before the actual meal! As you wait for your restaurant order a small basket of bread will usually be placed on your table and along with it various condiments such as mayonnaise, oil and vinegar and fresh squeezable lemon halves. And Pebre.

There are just about as many recipes for Pebre in Chile as there are families. Tourist guide books will typically tell you that Pebre is intended as a condiment for grilled meats, however I have never seen any Chileans use it for anything else than an appetizer to go with bread. I myself use it with meat and fried eggs and on sandwiches and everything else.

Freshly made Pebre isn’t actually extremely hot. But left overnight it starts to turn deadly and by the third day it will have become extremely spicy. But still good.

Version one, the baby variety:

There is no point to detailed measures when making Pebre. It is not an exact science. As the picture below shows for instance, here tomatoes can be several times bigger than lemons. What you want to aim for is the right look more than the exactly right measures. For this version, see the above photo for visual reference.

About half a bunch of fresh cilantro (aka coriander). Chop finely.
1 1/2 large tomatoes. Chop finely. What you want is a somewhat mushy consistency.
1/2 a large onion, finely chopped. No piece should be much bigger than the head of a match.
Some finely chopped green chili. Half of a big one or two tiny ones.
Two tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. (Chileans cannot actually afford to use this and typically use cheap vegetable oils instead, but Extra Virgin is better.)
1 good pinch of salt
One squeeze of lemon juice or alternatively a teaspoon of any white wine, Balsamico or rice vinegar.
4-5 tablespoons of boiling water. (The above photo does not have added water)

Version two, the hottest and best variety:

This requires the addition of freshly blended Aji chilis. Some vegetable dealers will have small plastic baggies or jars of such sauce (as seen in the photo below). Alternatively you could add a little commercial chili sauce, such as Sambal, but it’s not quite the same as fresh blended peppers.

Everything else exactly as above, but leave out the water and do not use vinegar. Add the chili sauce until mixture is red.

The vegetables used in yesterdays bowl of condiment

The end results: a big bowl of the world’s best Pebre.