Spice Up Your Life

Asia

Indonesia

Even though Otak-Otak means "brains" in the Indonesian language this spicy dish has nothing to do with brains instead it refers to the fact that this dish wrapped up in banana leaves resembles brains.

Inside the banana leaves, you find a seafood cake that consists of ground fish, tapioca starch, and native spices known as belacan and galangal. The real heat to this dish comes from the various local peppers that have been ground up and mixed in with the other ingredients.

The Indonesian version of this dish is white in color but in Malaysia and Singapore, the dish is darker in color with the addition of turmeric, chilli, and curry powders.

China

The Sichuan province in China is known for creating some of the spiciest food in the world and among the most popular dishes is Sichuan Hot Pot. This dish is made by boiling a pepper-oil broth with many added kinds of meats and vegetables. The ingredients can also include seafood and noodles.

It is the tasty broth that provides most of the heat and flavor including Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, and Sichuan bean paste.

Korea

Kimchi Jjigae is made with the special salted and fermented Korean cabbage and radishes. The dish starts with boiling broth with green onions, garlic, tofu, mushrooms, and a lot of red chillis and of course, kimchi. The heat of the dish can be made milder or spicier but it never really loses its heat.

Jjambbong is a spicy Korean noodle soup that was introduced by Chinese immigrants who settled in Incheon, Korea in the 1800s. The soup includes plenty of squid and mussels, pork, noodles, carrots, zucchini, and cabbage. The red broth gets its flavor from kelp and gochuganu, Korean chilli powder made with sun-dried Korean red chilli peppers giving it a sweet and smokey flavor.

India

Pork Vindaloo originated in the city of Goa and is a dish that is hot and vinegary. The dish is created by combining garlic, pork, vinegar, cane sugar, and plenty of Kashmiri chillies. Once the dish is done the pork is left for a whole day to soak up all the flavors. Then be prepared for a real spicy hot taste treat.

Thailand

Gaeng Tai Pla is a dish that is a cross between a thick soup and a curry. It is a favorite among the fishing communities of southern Thailand. The basis of the dish is a salty sauce that is a combination of pickled fish bladder and other intestines. Then dried chillies, garlic, galangal, shrimp paste, and turmeric make for a spicy and tangy broth.

There are versions that include chunks of dried fish with vegetables like eggplant, bamboo shoots, and king beans to help soak up some of the heat. Gaeng Tai Pla originated in the city of Nakhon Si Thammarat in the north of Thailand where nothing is added to the dish to make it milder.

Africa

Ethiopia

Doro Wat is an Ethiopian stew made with chicken, vegetables, and spices in a broth that is thickened by cooked onions. The chicken is first soaked in water, salt, and lemon juice to eliminate bacteria and then is cut into pieces. The dish is made spicy by the addition of an Ethiopian spice mixture known as berbere consisting of many chillies, garlic, ginger, basil, korarima, rue, ajwain, nigella, and fenugreek. About five minutes before the stew is done hard-boiled eggs are added to absorb the spices.

South America

Peru

Papa a la huancaína is a long name for a simple and spicy Peruvian dish that consists of a heap of boiled potatoes with a hard-boiled egg on top. It is the rich yellow sauce that provides the spice to this dish and includes both amarillo and habanero peppers. This is a tasty and spice appetizer that is served cold with the spiciness providing the heat.

Cau-Cau is another spicey dish from Peru that includes the local yellow chilli peppers. It is at tripe stew that is stewed with lots of these peppers and served with rice. Strips of tripe are pre-cooked and then cooked again with potatoes, aji Amarillo Peruvian yellow chillies, plenty of ginger and garlic and some mint.

Mexico

Chilate de pollo is a spicy chicken soup with the main ingredients being chicken pieces, rice, potatoes and chopped vegetables. The dish originated in Oaxaca known for its dark red smoky pasilla chillies. The broth is made spicy and red with the combination of dried guajillo chillies and chillies de arbot but the main ingredient is epazote which is a pungent herb with licorice flavor. The chicken is braised in a tomato base that helps to soak up some of the spice.

This flavorful soup is usually served with some guacamole or avocado wedges.

The Caribbean

Haiti

Griot is a Haitian dish that is made with chunks of pork that are slowly simmered in a marinade of chilli peppers, onions, and orange, lemon, or lime juices until tender then the pork is fried in a skillet. Today it is considered to be the national dish of Haiti.

Jamaica

Jamaica Jerk Chicken, pork, or beef is created using a unique Jamaican cooking method where the meat is cooked over a fire pit or on a grill. The main ingredient here is the unique spicy seasoning that is a blend of onions, green onions, thyme, Jamaican allspice, chillies, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Blended all together the dish comes out spicy, hot, and sweet.