Piquin

Today I had the good fortune to have lunch at Super Antojitos. Despite my rants about not being able to find good Mexican food were I live in a previous post, this place proves that not all is bad around here. In addition to the authentic food (I'm not from Mexico, so don't take my word for it), eating here has the benefit of being offered some of the owners homegrown piquins. Never having tried one before, I quickly chowed one down, resulting in some serious pain along with a very welcome endorphin high. Needless to say, I was hooked.

To learn more about this fiery little pepper I consulted my favorite cookbook, The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia. As the title implies, it's more of an encyclopedia than a cookbook, albeit one with lots of recipes. If you're into spicy food, I highly recommend it. Not only does it come loaded with seriously nice and spicy recipes, it will also give you the lowdown on everything you ever wanted to know about chili peppers. So, what about piquins? According to the book, it's an extremely hot pepper, but I could have told you that without looking it up.

Attack of the terror chillies

In this day and age apparently even chillies can be suspects in the so called war on terrorism. Given the epicurean slant of this blog and the fact that I'm a sucker for spicy food, I can't wait to try the article's recipe for Nam Prik Pao:

1. Heat garlic and shallots in oil and remove to a bowl
2. Place red chillies in the pan with some oil and fry until they go dark in colour. Then set aside
3. Mix shrimp paste with the rest of the ingredients and pound in a mortar and pestle
4. Return the mixture to the heat until it becomes a thick dark coloured paste

All I have to figure out now are the quantities of the various ingredients. Do let me know if you do.