I’m working on a pepper sauce recipe and I’m looking for improvement ideas.

First, I boiled dried Indian round chilis with ginger, salt, black cardamom and star anise. After that, I ground tarragon, basil, salt, chives and garlic with peanut oil, before dicing and adding the chills.

After grinding the softened chilis, I realized they were less spicy than when I soaked them, but had a wayy better texture, though may have not soaked them long enough before. After all that, I added lemon and orange juice, plus a fresh banana pepper, though next time I might add Thai chilis instead.

Overall I think it tasted good but lacked identity, I’m thinking of maybe adding peanut butter. I mentioned it seems to need something and mom suggested adding agave and letting a sit for a while to develop flavor.

Another thing I’m thinking of is adding the paste to the water and whole spices and ginger and blending it all together, but I worry that might dilute it’s flavor.