HOT & SPICY
Today I'm going to talk about Hot and Spicy foods, particularly Thai, and dish up some recipes to go along with the topic.
Hot and Spicy foods can be found everywhere. And I'm not talking just
Chicken Wings, I mean Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Mexican, African,
Indian Curries, Southwest American & more applications in more
cuisine's than I can mention. Once hooked, the quest to find new
ingredients and recipes can be addictive! The thought here is that once
you have set your mouth on fire, the brain releases endorphins into your
blood stream which give you an almost drugged like feeling.
"Can you eat spicy hot food?" is the challenging query asked by waiters
and waitresses in many Thai restaurants. Thai cooking is famous for the
fiery sauces & dips that often accompany many dishes. This reputation
of all Thai food being very hot is undeserved as a good Thai meal is a
harmonious blend of flavors, spicy and bland, wet and dry, fresh and
cooked, and of salty and sweet. Most of the volcanic heat comes from
the ferocious chili, lurking fire-red or deceptively green, somewhere on
the plate.
When the beginner first meets chili-spiced food, caution is recommended.
Don't eat with your lips, but take the food from the spoon with your teeth.
If your face bursts into flames and you need to put out the
fire, water or beer is not the answer. Chew on a piece of cucumber.
The English expression "as cool as a cucumber" did not arise
by chance. Also, drink milk or a
piece of bread or toast with butter or run to your
freezer and gobble up some ice cream.
The products available are
overwhelming in their scope. Literally thousand of
products just in the sauce and salsa category alone are
available and they are very inexpensive, so sampling
them to find just the right flavor and heat is an
affordable treat. I personally have 9-10 favorites that
are on hand all the time.
In Thailand's
fresh markets, the whole range of chili types are available. They are mostly finger-sized, and may be
red, green, orange, or yellow in color. The
spiciness or the kick of the chili can very from
type to type, from color to color, or even from month to month. They may be fresh, dried in the sun, or even
dried and ground into a powder, but one thing remains
constant, their "heat" is concentrated mostly in
the tissue or veins surrounding the seeds and attaching the seeds
to the inside of the fruit wall. To facilitate ease in
preparing most recipes, the Thai or other dishes that
call for the traditional Thai pepper "Prik Kee Noo"
or "prik" we have substituted with a pepper
that is more easily for you to find in your local market. The "Prik Kee Noo"
pepper is
available everywhere in Thailand and is very cheap. If
you can find it, of course, we recommend that you try it
in any of your Thai dishes that call for a bit of heat.
But, be careful!
Chilies are rich in Vitamin A and C. A two-ounce Chile
has more than twice your daily requirement of Vitamin A.
When you are buying peppers look for a firm, solid flesh
that is unblemished and has an even coloring. They have
a good shelf life and should be kept in a cooler in a
plastic bag until ready to use. If you are handling
really hot peppers use a pair of surgical gloves that
are available in the supermarket. Do not touch your eyes
or certain sensitive spots on your body after handling
hot peppers. It's a lesson you can learn from someone
who has had a bad experience. ME!
Dried whole chilies should be clean, shiny, and not
broken. Store like you do all your spices, in a cool
dark area in a sealed container or bag. To reconstitute
them cover them with hot water in a bowl until they are
soft and you can work with them.
The majority of the heat in a pepper is in the veins and
seeds. To tone down a dish and get the flavor of the
pepper without as much heat, remove the veins and seeds
before you incorporate them into your dish.
Roasting Peppers
Roasting
peppers is a very common practice for adding additional
flavor to a dish. Roast your peppers on a grill, over a
gas flame or in an oven until the skin is black and
blistered. Immediately place them into a plastic bag and
let them steam. This facilitates the easy removal of the
skins. Remove the skins and you are ready to make all
kinds of wonderful dishes. If I'm in a hurry but still
want to make a fun fish sauce, I'll take a package of
Newburg Sauce and prepare it according to the
instructions on the package. Meanwhile I'll roast a red
bell pepper and one jalapeno. Remove the veins and seeds
once they are peeled. Then I put the sauce and the
peeled peppers into a blender and presto, instant Red
Bell Pepper Sauce. It really is great, use less jalapeno
if you are not into too spicy!
About Wasabi
Another
favorite ingredient of mine for adding heat to a dish is Wasabi. Wasabi powder is available in most grocery
stores and is also used in many sushi restaurants. The
powder is not real Wasabi at all. The customary
ingredients are horseradish powder (dried and ground
regular horseradish), mustard powder, cornstarch and
artificial color (blue and yellow). It's convenient and
inexpensive but tastes nothing like real Wasabi.
Wasabi is a highly valued plant in Japanese cuisine,
used primarily as a condiment for seafood dishes. More
recently it has found widespread appeal in western
cuisine due to its unique flavor. Used as an ingredient
in dressings, dips, sauces and marinades, Wasabi is a
versatile spice and is rapidly becoming one of the most
popular new flavors. Wasabi has a heat component that
unlike chili peppers is not long lived on the palate and
subsides into an extremely pleasant, mild vegetable
taste that even people normally averse to hot food enjoy
Chile vs. Chili
Chile vs. Chili.
A chile is a pepper, so chile powder would be the powder of a specific chile. One of my favorites is Ancho Chile powder.
It is a dried Poblano Chile and it is the most commonly used dried chile "South of the Border".
It's spectacular brick red color and earthy flavor makes it a must for a good Mole Sauce. I use this when chili powder is asked for in a recipe.
What is chili powder? Well everyone knows that chili is a dish made with peppers, spices, flavorful broth, maybe
beans and meat, etc. Chili powder can contain dried chilies of any blend and other spices, like oregano.
One brand is not necessarily consistent with another, so your chili will taste different to you from last time if
using a different powder. I recommend using a favorite chile powder for a consistent taste batch to batch.
Seasoning and Flavoring
Is
there a difference? Oh Yes! Seasoning is what you do to
enhance the real flavor of the food you are eating. When
you put salt on a steak or grilled asparagus you are
seasoning the food without masking it's basic flavor.
Flavoring a food means you are changing its basic true
flavor. When you coat a piece of fish with Cajun spices
and blacken it a searing hot pan, you have definitely
flavored the fish! Same with ground beef for Tacos or
Chili. Do you see the difference? It's pretty simple,
but it can be a little confusing too. While salt may be
your basic and most common Seasoning, what happens when
it is used in beef jerky or popcorn? Oops, now it a
Flavoring! So like I said earlier, just use common
sense.
Basic Rules: Just remember that for the most part your main ingredient, the meat, starch or vegetable are your primary flavor.
Your goal is to cook them properly and enhance their original flavors to make them more pleasing to your palate.
Dumping in a whole can of your favorite spice can't save poorly prepared food!
Peppers - Flavoring
Pepper is probably the second most common flavoring ingredient.
Black and White and Green Pepper are actually berries that are processed differently and are called peppercorns.
They all grow on the same vine and are harvested at different times. The green ones are
harvested first and frozen, freeze-dried or pickled in a brine. Black pepper is also picked unripe later in the growing stage.
They are then dried and considered to be the world's most popular spice. The last to be harvested is the white pepper.
They turn a light shade of pink and are harvested. The outer shell or husk is removed and the light or white peppercorn is revealed.
Personally I think that white pepper is spicier than the black but many people would disagree with me.
White pepper is used in white or cream sauces and things like mashed potatoes. Heavily used in Chinese cuisine as well.
