Noodles and Rice

Thai Peppers

by Stef on April 9th, 2006

Thai Peppers are little fire-babies guaranteed to light up your tongue and mouth with its unbelievable heat. Scoring (depending on which chile-head you consult) 75-350,000 units on the Scoville Scale, it’s an ingredient that excites and terrifies the most adventurous cook. When working with Thai peppers you need to make sure that you either use gloves to handle them, or wash your hands REALLY well before you touch your eyes or nose — these are bound to sting and burn. Trust me, I’ve been there, done that! I haven’t learned my lesson well, apparently, since I still handle them without gloves (too lazy to put those things on most days), but I at least try to remember the hand-washing part most of the time now.

Alternatively called bird pepper or bird’s eye pepper, among other things, the Thai pepper’s versatility is well-known and well-loved. Dave Dewitt, who authored
, is my favorite source for information on hot peppers. Incidentally, if you’re a chile pepper lover, you *need* to get this book! You can also visit Dave’s website, Fiery Foods for the latest and greatest on hot peppers, Scoville awards, pepper planting help, etc.

In the Philippines, these hot peppers are used in dipping sauces, or as the primary source of heat for such dishes as Bicol Express. Here are other recipes that make use of this tiny scorcher:

Thai Green Curry Soup from Tribe.net
Kung Po Chicken from Chilepepper and Spice
A Spaghetti Sauce recipe from The Chan Clan
Spicy Squash Soup from Meg of Too Many Chefs (uses the dried version)
Vietnamese Pho Bo
Thai Som Tam
An interesting Gingered Spam Salad! from Danielo, which seems to be a joke of a recipe, but who knows, someone may want to try it
Thai Fish Cakes with Cucumber Sauce from Coogs Finest
Korean Egg JangJoRim from Lee Suna

Time for me to work on dinner prep. I’m thinking of a cucumber salad, sprinkled lightly with chopped Thai peppers…

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POSTED IN: Ingredient Spotlight, Thai