Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spicy

Help me spice up my curries, please!

Seeba — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:56:33 -0800

Help me spice up my curries, please! I enjoy cooking coconut milk based curries, but they're not nearly as spicy as I'd like.

I've tried just adding a lot more red curry paste, and up to almost a quarter cup of red pepper, but the coconut milk concoctions still come out relatively bland.

(Normally I do this the lazy-man way-- saute chicken, onions, garlic, peppers, and sometimes an assortment of other veggies, then add a coupla' tablespoons of curry paste, then coconut milk, let it boil for a few minutes, then pour over rice)

Help me, mefi! (Please :^D )

Help! I underthought a plate of noodles

any portmanteau in a storm — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:07:53 -0800

What is the name of this cold noodle dish? Most likely Korean or Chinese food. This one's been bugging me for a while. About 6 years ago there was this restaurant in Kyoto called "Kara Kuri" which pretty much served one dish which I will now describe:

Cold noodles, around spaghetti size

Topped with cool vegetables (I forget which ones now but along the lines of shredded cucumber, lettuce, bean sprouts, etc) and cold, unseasoned chicken or pork

A dipping sauce, probably made from some kind of spicy bean paste

Garnished with sesame seeds

You could specify how spicy you want the sauce to be and they would make your sauce with more or less of the spicy ingredient accordingly.

If you pour the dipping sauce onto your plate of noodles, it will be much, much spicier than if you dip the noodles into the sauce. So there is probably a layer of (sesame) oil on the top of the sauce.

I'm guessing it's based on something Korean or Chinese but I haven't had anything like it apart from when my wife tries to recreate it from memory (which tastes pretty good, but memory fades so we're never sure how close it is).

How does one get accustomed to spicy food?

beukeboom — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:22:36 -0800

How does one get accustomed to spicy food? My girlfriend (over)reacts to food that has any sort of discernible spicy/hot taste. What are ways to get her to tolerate and eventually enjoy truly hot food?

I Can Has Spicy Hot Mango Candy Pleez?

RobotVoodooPower — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:06:09 -0800

Where can I find spicy hot mango Mexican candy online? My coworker recently came back from Isla Mujeres, Mexico, and brought back a bag of tasty candy -- each individually-wrapped treat was mango-flavored, chewy, and hot. I ate it all, and besides being remorseful I'm also craving more. I Googled the name on the candy wrapper (which I forgot to write down) and came up with nothing. Anyone know where I might find such delicious treats online?

Obsessed with the Wasabi

peewinkle — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:59:32 -0800

Help me cure my Wasabi craving! A few years ago, I was introduced to Wasabi. After being a lifelong fan of anything hot and spicy, unfortunately, years of self-abuse have rendered my stomach useless for digesting any sort of solid (capsaicin) pepper. I still am able to digest several hot sauces, most likely due to the fact that vinegar is used in their preparation, but not peppers, either cooked or raw.

Enter Wasabi. I love it. Help me find it! FYI I also cannot easily digest the popular wasabi-flavored peas, which to my understanding really has a much higher percentage of mustard and horseradish than Wasabi anyways. (Legumes and I do not mix, except for peanuts).

My google-fu fails me and I have looked on the Mefi.

What I am looking for:

1) Wasabi-flavored cashews (again, mustard and horseradish are the main seasoning agents, but HOLY MOLY are they good).

2) Wasabi chips. Not the flavored chips (which are decent and I can easily find on the internet) but the actual 'chips' that are composed from the leaf of the plant, (sometimes battered) and then deep fried. Once I played a show in San Fransisco with a Japanese noise band, and the singer had a bag of these, that came with it's own Wasabi-hot sauce, much akin to the southern snack of BBQ'd pork rinds that include a bag of hot sauce. These are the priority.

3) I'm not a sushi fan, though I have been eating more of it since I discovered my new found love. The local Sushi restaurant will not sell me any Wasabi that they use in preparation, though they do sell some cheap crap at the counter. "Too dangerous," they say. I have implored them to no avail and I can't afford 15 dollars for takeout every time I get the urge.

4) A recommendation for a good paste (via the internet).

5) Actual Wasabi plants, either cured, fresh, or however they sell them.

Also, if anyone knows of any other Wasabi products, by all means let me know. I am in Racine, Wisconsin, and am willing to travel to either Milwaukee or Chicago. Internet mail-order will work also.

Thank you, my Wasabi loving brothers and sisters.

Making crunchy bean goodness?

leahwrenn — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:02:26 -0800

Suggestions for recipes for crunchy, spiced snacks using Chickpeas? lentils? other bean-type stuff? I have a memory from when I was little (1980s, not that it's relevant) that my parents made some sort of spiced (cumin? spicy? salty? I don't remember) crunchy snack using some kind of legume---maybe chickpeas, or lentils, or something like that; maybe using green peas...my recollection is that it didn't need deep-frying (it was cooked in the oven). They only made it once or twice and don't have the recipe.

Anyway, the general idea sounds really tasty and hopefully moderately not unhealthy. Any ideas where I might find this sort of recipe?

Cooking with fresh cayenne peppers

shirobara — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:53:40 -0800

"Pepper," to me, means "bell pepper," but my neighbor gave me two cayenne pepper plants, and the peppers are starting to turn red. When should I harvest them, and what should I do with them? Should I pick them once they turn completely red, or should they stay on the plant longer? And as for the cooking part, I know that you seed them carefully and take out the ribs, but then what can you do with the flesh? What kind of flavors generally go well with them? What are some basic recipes I can try out?

I'm a vegetarian, so please no fish/chicken/etc., unless the technique can be applied to tofu or something...

Why does it burn when I pee

tehloki — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:19:20 -0800

I love spicy food, and I seem to suffer no ill digestive-tract-related effects from it. However, it seems that it causes my urine to be.. spicy. Not excruciating, like touching your genitals after handling hot peppers, but quite unpleasant. Is this common? Is it something I should see a doctor for? Before you ask, no, I don't have an STD; I get tested at my annual physical and this burning seems to only be only associated with eating spicy foods. Also, it has persisted through long periods of sexual inactivity. Everything else down there seems to be in working order; I'm worried it might be some weird kidney thing, as my kidneys were damaged in the past.

BBQ Rubs and Sauces

netbros — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:08:38 -0800

The barbecue season is upon us (at least in the northern hemisphere), and I'm now in a place that allows outdoor grilling, but I'm a neophyte when it comes to BBQ sauces and rubs. What are your favorite excellent BBQ/grilling sauces? I want to try them all; tomato based, vinegar based, I think there are even some made with mustard. Hot and spicy is good. DIY homemade would probably be even more fun, but if you've found outstanding stuff in a bottle, that's OK too.

I think the pros say there is a difference between barbecue and grilling. See, I don't know this stuff. Apparently, BBQ is done with a closed lid and a rub, while grilling is open lid. Is that right? Do you have any great rub recipes for the smoky kind of closed lid slow cooking? Since I have a chance now, I want to try all this great outdoor cooking.

Pimp my too-spicy chicken!

unixrat — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:52:13 -0800

Following a recommended recipe, we cooked a number of chopped chicken breasts in a sauce that contained a large amount of "buffalo" sauce - you know, the hot stuff that people put on wings. After serving them we discovered that the sauce was actually the 'fire' version and the chicken was inedibly spicy-hot. We now have two pounds of fire-engine red, top-notch, ultra-buffaloed chicken breast sitting in the fridge. I'd hate to waste this much food - especially high-quality breasts like the ones we purchased. What can we do with this chicken? The chicken is in 'chunks' - not breast-sized, but not cubed either. The family does like 'buffalo wings', but these are just too hot to eat as-is. I'm a good cook(*), so feel free to suggest anything.

* But not a very observant one, apparently. :)

The Galvanized Gullet cookbook is ok.

sushiwiththejury — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:15:18 -0800

Give me your hottest recipes. Crazy hot. Like Naga Jolokia hot. Also: do recommend places to go for fiery food and drinks that go along with them.

Spicy Squid Bits? YUM?

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:52:27 -0800

Filipino food filter: What do I do with my Spicy Squid Bits? Bought two cans of Saba Sisig Spicy Squid Bits (last item on page). What can I do with them? I understand what Sisig means, basically, it's like chopped fatty innards, kinda like chitterlings, and usually not squid-based. What do you eat sisig, especially of a squid variety, accompanied with? How do you prepare it? Recipes please! Salamat!

Thai food in Buenos Aires?

conifer — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:43:26 -0800

Any one know of an authentic Thai restaurant in Buenos Aires? There are plenty of Fusion places, but that just doesn't do it for me. Porteños just can't handle spicy - they think ginger and garlic are spicy - and I'm craving spicy like crazy, having just come here from two months in Bangkok. So I suppose spicy and authentic are the key words here.

Help me Thai one on!

Crotalus — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:25:48 -0800

How do you make sure your Thai cuisine has just the right heat? I was introduced to Thai cuisine about 5 years ago, and I can't get enough of it. I travel alot, and so I get to sample different restaurants in different cities. Trouble is, restaurants vary in terms of what they consider spicy. I've tried various ways of describing the level of heat I like, but I haven't found the best way yet. In some restaurants "medium" or "4 on a scale of 1 to 5" means the food is downright bland. In other places it burns my tongue off. I've also tried saying, "I like it hotter than about 75% of clientele," but if you go to a place that's famous for its heat (or its "anglo-friendly" spice levels) this can be problematic as well. How do YOU ensure that your Thai (or Indian, or Cajun) food is the right level of spiciness when ordering in an unfamiliar restaurant? Are their cues I can use that might tip me off about how a particular establishment brings on the heat?

Spicy/Sweet Red Sauce for Korean dish?

universal_qlc — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:40:12 -0800

What is the spicy and sweet red sauce that comes with hwe dup bop (or chirashi bowl) at Korean (Japanese) restaurants? ...because my boyfriend and I are addicted to it and are wondering where we could find it, or how we could make some for ourselves; going out to a restaurant and ordering it every time we get a craving for it could get kind of expensive.

Also, any unusual suggestions for what it would go well with (aside from hwe dup bop)?

Help! I lost my spice!

unSane — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:48:36 -0800

Identify this cookbook, or give me the potato/chili soup recipe I yearn for. Years ago (mid 80s), I bought a cookbook, probably in England, but possibly North America. It was a small, Penguin*-sized paperback and was full of recipes for spicy food. I think they had chili ratings for how hot they were (but maybe not). It might have been called "The Chili Cookbook" (yes, I've googled, but nothing rings a bell) but it might not.

Thing is, it had the recipe for a potato and poblano chili soup which I made once and, in retrospect, was the most divine thing I ever tasted. I remember it contained enormous quantities of garlic, plus chilis, potatoes and cream. I don't know what else.

In one of my transatlantic movies, it disappeared.

Can anyone identify this cookbook, or point me at the recipe??

*the book not the flightless bird

Mexican food in Argentina

punkbitch — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:02:29 -0800

Does anyone know a good, SPICY, authentic Mexican restaurant in Buenos Aires? I went to a place yesterday and ordered mole and got a chicken breast covered (more-or-less) in Snickers bars. Anyone know a really good place? The Argentine pallette seems to avoid all things picante.

Kids and Spicy Food

arcticwoman — Fri, 12 May 2006 11:50:31 -0800

Why do kids dislike spicy food and is this culturally specific? What about Mexican/Thai/Indian/etc kids who can't avoid it?

ooh, (ginger)snap!

Vervain — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:22:06 -0800

Do you have the perfect gingersnap recipe? In my mind, the Platonic-ideal gingersnap is a lot like the Ginger Nuts I lived on while studying in Scotland (more than ten years ago now, ye gods)...very crisp, and so spicy they leave you with a gingery burning aftertaste. Now, I know you can find actual Ginger Nuts stateside at Cost Plus, but they don't have the spiciness I remember. And I'd rather make them myself anyway.

However! My go-to baking book, the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, is utterly failing me on this, and I'm not sure why. Using so-called "full flavor" molasses made cookies so dark and dense they didn't crisp up (or reflect light) properly, while the lighter/"mild" molasses made them crunchy, but incredibly bland. Upping the amount of spices--even adding a pinch of mace!--didn't seem to do much, either. Am I hallucinating this perfect gingersnap? AskMe, you're my only hope!

Hot wings eating contest

exhilaration — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 12:27:14 -0800

I need tips for winning, surviving, and recovering from a hot wings eating contest. They're the spiciest hot wings I've ever tasted and I'll be eating as many as I can handle on Saturday. I think we're going to go with a "no water" rule. Any tips to help me? How can I prepare beforehand? Any drugs that'll help me cheat? I've never taken an antacid in my life (I'm 26), should I take one before? Or after? What brand is best? Will this give me the runs? We're doing this at lunch time, so should I skip breakfast?

Whither real Mexican food in Boston?

killdevil — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 09:23:37 -0800

Are there any good, authentic, homemade Mexican restaurants in the Boston area? Inspired, of course, by a similar recent question covering the New York region. New Englanders don't seem to like spicy food at all, and the Mexican places I've been to here aren't at all authentic.

So, am I missing any worthy places?