Thai Chillies

Andanté recently returned from a culinary adventure to South East Asia, and for the next couple of weeks you can expect a lot of Thai, Vietnamese and Malay inspired foodie blogs. Here is her first story…

Endless selections of chillies in the Thai markets.

We really love chillies - we’ve blogged about them, used them in recipes and grow them ourselves, but the trip to Thailand just inspired us even more!

Chillies are a central ingredient in Thai cooking, ranging from large decorative peppers to small (and very powerfull) Thai or bird’s eye chillies. They use them in pastes, fresh, as garnish, marinated and cooked in – adding a distinctive punch and flavour to dishes. The Thai chilli measures around 50,000 to 100,000 units on the Scoville scale (the measurement of the spicy heat in peppers), compared to the hottest pepper, Naga Jolokia or Ghost chilli, that measures a potent 855,000 to 1,075,000 units (Tabasco Sauce averages about 2500). Locally it is called Prik Kee Noo, or ‘Mouse Poo Peppers’ because of its small size and appearance. We attended a cooking class in Bangkok where the chef didn’t even touch the chillies with his bare hands, but rather used two knives to handle them to avoid contact with his skin.

We were mesmerised by all the chillies on offer in the local markets, and couldn’t resist bringing home a selection to cultivate ourselves!

Chillies that we bought in Thailand and are going to try and grow.  (The small ones are the Thai Chillies)

A display of hot peppers and a humorous board explaining the Scoville Scale at the HEB Central Market location in Houston, Texas.

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