I hate peppers. I have always hated peppers. Except for black pepper in seasoning, I’ve never met a pepper I liked. In particular I hate bell peppers and I don’t discriminate by colour – yellow, green, red…they are all horrible. I mean really, what is it about peppers that makes them like large sweaty wife-beater wearing men on a hot, humid day…you can smell them from a mile off and they permeate everything they come near.
Now chili peppers are a slightly different story for me. I’d been under the assumption these too would be my Public Enemy #1. However, in the past year or so I’d noticed I didn’t really mind if I saw little flecks of red in my food – it gave whatever I was eating a little kick but didn’t actually taste like a pepper. Still, while I was happy to foray into the world of sweet chili sauce I’d never actually cooked with chili peppers in my life. Sad for someone as food-loving as myself, but what can I say? I’ve been a chicken.
Always looking for something new, interesting, quasi-healthy and easy to add to my ever growing list of dinner staples I recently made a “Thai Burger” recipe I’d found on the BBC food website.
Alongside the burgers:
- Corn and Cilantro fritters with a sweet chili sauce
- Strawberry, Raspberry and Rhubarb pie (didn’t really go with the Thai theme but I’d been craving some in-season rhubarb I was seeing at the farmer's market)
While it wasn’t meant to be a competition and all three items turned out well, the front runner of the night was definitely the Thai Burger. When I came across the recipe I’d been slightly concerned with the mention of a red chili pepper. What would it be like if I just skipped it? Where would I buy these strange peppers? I know, I know...I was being an idiotic scardy cat. I even almost scrapped the whole idea and went for a Beef Kofta recipe I’d seen instead. However, after realising that these chilies are as common as basil and thyme (in a little package at Waitrose with all the other fresh herbs) it just seemed silly to keep this battle with chili peppers going any longer.
The only tips I'd provide based on the as-is recipe below is that I went the ground pork route and thought it was outstanding. I also did a variation on their suggestion of sweet chili sauce on the bread. Instead I mixed equal portions sweet chili sauce and hoisin (plum) sauce and spread that on instead. And don't skip the cucumbers- fantastic with the burgers.
No comments:
Post a Comment