Hot ingredient for sauce, despite what you hear (6)
I believe the answer is:
chilli
'hot ingredient' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both things that one consumes for nourishment as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chilli that I've seen before include "Give up completely" , "Type of capsicum" , "Mexican dish" , "Hot one in dish maybe" , "Hot food (that sounds cold!)" .)