Sambal Belacan is a red chilli paste made with shrimp paste that is a must for many families in Singapore and Malaysia. No self respecting Malay home will be without it at the dinner table. Made with fresh chillies, it’s flavoured…
Sweet Chilli Sauce is one of those ubiquitous sauces sold in bottles or jars as either Chinese or Thai. It is what it say – sweet and not spicy, so the chillies used are usually the milder variety. But of…
Zhug (variantly spelled as zhoug, zhoog, skhug and schug), is a hot chilli sauce or chilli paste from Yemen. To me, Zhug is the Middle Eastern pesto. After all, the word zhoug means “ground”, much like pesto comes from the…
What are Sichuan Peppercorns? Despite the name, Sichuan peppercorns are not peppercorns and therefore, not related to our common black peppercorns at all! Sichuan peppercorns are the highly aromatic husks of the prickly ash berries which are dried and sold and they…
Also known as White Bhut Jolokia, measuring a whopping 800 000 – 1 million on the Scoville Scale, the White Ghost Pepper is one hot baby! That’s over 100 times hotter than a jalapeño! This summer (2015) was the first…
Harissa is a North African chilli paste, earthy and smoky in flavour. In its most basic form, you’ll find just chillies, garlic, salt, olive oil and lemon juice. But you don’t have to stop there, as you’ll see below. Harissa Recipe…