Cooking with chilli peppers
This week I've gotten out of my cooking comfort zone. I have been making several recipes that include my husbands home grown chilli peppers. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but cooking with chilli peppers is a little addictive.
I was raised in a chilli pepper house, mostly either green cayenne or Serrano chilli's. Do I know what this means? No! I understand there is a wide variety of chilli peppers out there. We have been growing Banana peppers and Cayenne peppers. I also did not know what this meant in terms of spice and flavor.
After a bit of research I gathered that the banana chilli is 0-500 on the heat scale and the Cayenne is 30,000-50,000 on the heat scale! So a bit of a difference there!
Can you believe there is a chilli pepper called the Trinidad Moruga Scorpian that measures 2,009,231 on the heat scale! Pretty nuts!
I have been substituting 1 green Cayenne for 2 Serrano reds for some recipes and 1 Banana for 1 Jalapeno...I mean a Jalapeno measures anywhere between 2,500 - 8,000 on the heat scale so you'd think 1 little Banana wouldn't cut it, but in the right recipe it is perfect. I like the Banana chilli as it's a nice one to experiment with.
I made smoked salmon fish cakes with one spicy Banana chilli and it was just enough flavor and spice to complement the smoked salmon. For today's Pad Thai I used 1 green Cayenne and again it was a good flavor, however I think I can up the chilli level...maybe doubling my chilli content or trying some Serrano's or Jalapenos in the future.
You maybe wondering what I've mostly been cooking with, dried chilli's or chilli powder, yes very mild and not fresh! I've grown up with chilli lovers and a community that enjoys spicy foods, I was, or it seemed to be the only person who didn't like my food too spicy and didn't always enjoy the chilli heat. I'm enjoying venturing into chilli cooking and finding that perfect blend of heat and flavor.
I was raised in a chilli pepper house, mostly either green cayenne or Serrano chilli's. Do I know what this means? No! I understand there is a wide variety of chilli peppers out there. We have been growing Banana peppers and Cayenne peppers. I also did not know what this meant in terms of spice and flavor.
After a bit of research I gathered that the banana chilli is 0-500 on the heat scale and the Cayenne is 30,000-50,000 on the heat scale! So a bit of a difference there!
Can you believe there is a chilli pepper called the Trinidad Moruga Scorpian that measures 2,009,231 on the heat scale! Pretty nuts!
I have been substituting 1 green Cayenne for 2 Serrano reds for some recipes and 1 Banana for 1 Jalapeno...I mean a Jalapeno measures anywhere between 2,500 - 8,000 on the heat scale so you'd think 1 little Banana wouldn't cut it, but in the right recipe it is perfect. I like the Banana chilli as it's a nice one to experiment with.
I made smoked salmon fish cakes with one spicy Banana chilli and it was just enough flavor and spice to complement the smoked salmon. For today's Pad Thai I used 1 green Cayenne and again it was a good flavor, however I think I can up the chilli level...maybe doubling my chilli content or trying some Serrano's or Jalapenos in the future.
You maybe wondering what I've mostly been cooking with, dried chilli's or chilli powder, yes very mild and not fresh! I've grown up with chilli lovers and a community that enjoys spicy foods, I was, or it seemed to be the only person who didn't like my food too spicy and didn't always enjoy the chilli heat. I'm enjoying venturing into chilli cooking and finding that perfect blend of heat and flavor.
Mmmm... you are making me hungry for chillis!! :)
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