Cooking with hot chilies

Chili peppers are used by different countries to flavor and perk up their food. In Filipino cuisine they use the leaves of the chili plant as greens and put them in chicken soup. The soup is called Tinola and it consists of chicken, green papaya, chili pepper leaves and is flavored with ginger, onions and fish sauce. In Korea the leaves are used in Kimchi which is a Korean dish which is made of vegetables and seasonings. The vegetables used may be napa cabbage, radish, green onions or cucumber. The Japanese use the leaves for cooking in Tsukudani-style for preservation. Seafood, meat or seaweed in simmered in soy sauce and mirin. High osmotic pressure preserves the ingredients. In Bhutan the chili is the most important fruit and is used in almost all curries. Chili peppers are also used in the cuisine of Nigeria and other countries in Africa.

International dishes which use chili:

Hungary – Paprikash which is a braised chicken dish which uses mild, ground, dried chilies known as paprika.

Poland – Paprykarz szczeciriski consists of fish paste combined with rice, onion, tomato paste, vegetable oil, chili pepper powder and other seasonings.

Puebla region of Mexico –Chiles en nogada fresh mild chilies which are stuffed with meat and covered in a creamy nut-thickened sauce.

Puebla, Mexico – Mole poblano several varieties of dried chilies and combined with nuts, spices and fruit producing a thick, dark sauce used for poultry and meat.

Italy – Puttanesca a tomato sauce with hot dried chilies.

Sichuan region of China – Kung Pao Chicken – fast fried chicken cubes with seared chilies.