BARBERTON STYLE HOT SAUCE

Steps:

• 1. Peel and dice your onion medium fine.. Use 2 med. or 1 lg. onion - use more if you like onions. Clean celery and remove the strings. Dice celery fine. If used, clean and remove stem & seeds of bell pepper and dice fine.
• 2. Melt Crisco shortening. in a 12" skillet, large saute' pan or about a 3 qt. saucepan
• 3. ADD onions and saute' on low heat until soft and translucent, stirring so edges don't turn brown & burn. About 3 to 5 minutes. Add the celery and (optional) green pepper and saute' stirring until soft. About 3 more minutes.
• 4. ADD entire can of tomatoes to the pan. Rinse out your can with a small amount of water and add it to the pan. Add 1 about 4 to 6 oz. of the tomato juice. Stir until all is distributed evenly.
• 5. ADD sugar, and salt & black pepper. Crush red pepper flakes between fingers and add to tomato & onion mixture in pan as well. TURN HEAT DOWN TO THE LOWEST SETTING. COVER pan and continue cooking on SIMMER for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 6. RINSE rice in sieve under running water until water runs clear. ADD rice to your pan of and stir to distribute evenly throughout tomato & onion sauce mixture.
• 7. Return lid to pan, setting it ajar to allow the steam to escape. Allow to SIMMER for about 15 more minutes until rice has cooked and absorbed most of the liquid. TASTE & adjust seasonings to your taste. Add more tomato juice, as needed.
• 8. When rice is cooked and the sauce is the consistency you like, serve it up..! As for me, the hotter (spicier) it is, the better I like it... ENJOY!