by Dave Dewitt
1/3
cup fresh sweet-basil leaves, chopped
4
fresh red serrano or jalapeño chiles, stems and seeds removed, finely chopped
Red curry paste, to taste
In a small, heavy skillet, boil the coconut cream until it reaches the oily stage, then stir in the red curry paste. Add the fish sauce and the sugar. Set aside.
Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan and add the beef. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Add the seasoned curry paste to the simmering beef, bring to a boil, and add the eggplant, basil, and chiles. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
INDONESIAN MUTTON SOUP
yield
4 to 6 servings
heat scale
medium
Indonesia grows goats rather than sheep, yet “mutton” was the meat of choice in the wet market of Little India in Singapore, so I can only assume that this delicious curry-like soup can be made from either lamb or goat meat. The recipe is courtesy of Mrs. Devagi Shanmugam of the Thomson Cooking Studio.
2
pounds lamb or goat meat, cubed
3
quarts water
5
small green chiles, stems and seeds removed, chopped
5
small red chiles, stems and seeds removed, chopped
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
2
teaspoons black peppercorns
2
teaspoons anise seeds
2
teaspoons cumin seeds
5
cardamoms (or 2 tablespoons cardamom powder)
3
cloves
3
tablespoons coriander seeds
1
stick cinnamon
5
bay leaves
1
cup fresh mint leaves
4
pieces lemongrass, crushed
1
teaspoon ground turmeric
4
curry leaves (optional)
1
cup water
4
tomatoes, diced
5
tablespoons vegetable oil
Chopped spring (green) onions for garnish
3
teaspoons rice flour for thickening (optional)
Put the mutton and the water in a pot. In a food processor, coarsely grind together the next 16 ingredients along with the cup of water. Using a strainer, strain this mixture into the pot with the mutton. Save the residue, tie it up securely in a muslin or cotton cloth, and add it to the pot.
Fry the tomatoes, cinnamon, cardamoms, and cloves in the oil until the tomatoes are soft, and add the mixture to the pot.
Boil the soup until the mutton is tender and nearly falls apart. Remove the spice bundle, thicken the soup with rice flour if necessary, and garnish with the spring onions. Serve the soup over, or on the side with, Nasi Kunyit (see page 262).
NASI KUNYIT (YELLOW FESTIVE RICE) WITH PRAWNS
yield
4 to 6 servings
heat scale
mild
Also from Mrs. Devagi Shanmugam, this rice recipe makes a very colorful, fragrant dish that goes well with the mutton soup. Remember to use coconut milk, not canned coconut cream, which is too sweet. If you’re not serving the rice with soup, add chile powder to taste.
4
teaspoons ground coriander
2
teaspoons ground cumin
1
teaspoon ground turmeric
5-inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
3
garlic cloves, peeled
20
shallots, peeled
1
cup water
6
tablespoons vegetable oil
6
cups coconut milk
3
cups rice, washed and drained
4
pieces lemongrass
Salt to taste
Fried spring (green) onion rings, sliced into rings for garnish
Puree the first 7 ingredients in a blender. In a pan, fry the pureed ingredients in the oil until fragrant. Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, add the rice and lemongrass, cover, and cook until the rice is done, about 40 minutes. Add salt to taste and garnish with green onion rings.
RED CHILE OIL
yield
Makes approximately 2 cups chile oil
heat scale
hot
This recipe is from Dr. Gerald Schmidt, who has traveled extensively in China. He writes, “Here is a quick and easy way to make a versatile chile oil that can be used in stir-fry, as a salad dressing, or as a spicy topping for all grilled meats. Sichuan pepper (fagara) are the spicy seeds from a native bush. Omit the Sichuan pepper if you can’t find it. This oil can be stored in a glass bottle in the refrigerator and used as an all-purpose seasoning.”
⅔
cup dried red-chile pepper pods, coarsely chopped
2
cups cooking oil, peanut preferred
2
tablespoons Sichuan pepper, crushed
In a saucepan, warm the oil over medium heat, then add the chile pieces. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the Sichuan pepper and allow to cook for an additional 15 minutes. Do not let the oil get too hot or it will scorch the chiles. When the oil turns red, remove it from the heat and allow to cool. Filter out the solid material using a sieve and cheesecloth, and reserve the red oil.
TANGY CHICKEN AND PEANUTS (GONG BAO CHICKEN)
yield
2 servings, or 4 with side dishes and/or rice
heat scale
hot
This recipe is by Kimberly Dukes, who writes: “This is an immensely popular dish that you can find in nearly every restaurant or home.” I like the crunch of crisp American celery with the chicken and peanuts. Play with the recipe by replacing the chicken with shrimp or tofu, or by replacing the peanuts with cashews to dress it up a bit more. If you use peanuts, look for “Spanish” peanuts, which still have their reddish skins. In Sichuan, “Facing-Heaven” chiles are used in spicy dishes. They add visual appeal as well as flavor, but if you can’t find these, substitute other peppers that are medium-hot and richly flavorful. Here I use small Japanese chiles easily available in most supermarkets. Note: Because this is a stir-fry and must be cooked quickly, do all your chopping and measuring before starting to cook.
MARINADE INGREDIENTS
3
teaspoons sherry
1 1/2
teaspoons light soy sauce
2
teaspoons dark soy sauce
1/2
teaspoon salt
2
teaspoons cornstarch
1
teaspoon water
SAUCE INGREDIENTS
4
teaspoons sugar
1 1/2
teaspoons cornstarch
2
teaspoons dark soy sauce
2
teaspoons light soy sauce
4
teaspoons vinegar
2
teaspoons sesame oil
2
teaspoons water
STIR-FRY INGREDIENTS
1 to 2
boneless chicken breasts, cubed (about 1/2 pound)
3
tablespoons peanut oil
24
small Japanese chiles, halved, most seeds discarded
2
teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns
Chunk of ginger about the same size as the garlic, minced
4
medium cloves of garlic, minced
1
cup chopped celery (cut on a slant)
1
bunch green onions or scallions, chopped in 1-inch sections (about 1/2 cup)
1/2
cup peanuts
Cilantro or parsley, chopped, to garnish (optional)<
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In a medium bowl, combine the marinade ingredients and stir well. Add the chicken and let it sit while you chop, measure, and combine the other ingredients.
In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients.
In a wok, heat the oil over high heat. When it is quite hot, add the chiles and the Sichuan peppercorns, and stir continually for about half a minute, until the oil smells spicy. Be careful not to let the spices burn—you might want to take the wok off the heat for a moment or two.
Add the chicken and whatever is left of the marinade, stirring continually for a few minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Add the ginger and garlic, stir-frying until it smells fragrant, 15–30 seconds. Be careful not to burn them.
Stir the sauce again and add it to the wok, stirring for about 30 seconds. Add the celery and stir for about 15 seconds. Add the spring onions and stir for about 15 seconds. Add the peanuts and stir for about 15 seconds.
Serve on a flat oval plate in a single layer so that the sauce is distributed evenly. Garnish with cilantro or parsley if desired. Eat with chopsticks if you can!
KIMCHI
yield
4 to 6 servings
heat scale
medium
This recipe is by Richard Sterling, who collected it in South Korea. Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.
1
head white cabbage
1/2
gallon fresh water
1
cup salt
1
pint vinegar
1
quart water
1
cup salt
6
cloves of garlic, chopped (optional)
1
tablespoon ground red chile
Dissolve the salt in the water. Cut the cabbage into chunks about the size of an egg, and soak them overnight in the salted water. Drain the cabbage and squeeze it dry. In a pot, combine the water, vinegar, and salt, and bring the mixture to a boil, then let cool to room temperature. Combine the cabbage, garlic, and chile in a glass container, pour the vinegar mixture in, and cover. Store the jar in a cool, dark place for 1 week. Drain off the liquid and bring it to a boil in another pot. Place the cabbage in a clean container, pour the hot liquid over it, let it cool, then cover it. It will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.
Rezolex extraction plant, Radium Springs, New Mexico. Photograph by Dave DeWitt.
nine
HOT MEANS HEALTHY
The active principle that causes the heat in chile peppers is a crystalline alkaloid generically called capsaicin. It is produced by glands at the junction of the placenta and the pod wall. The capsaicin spreads unevenly throughout the inside of the pod and is concentrated mostly in the placental tissue, except for the superhot chiles in the chinense species.
THE NATURE OF CAPSAICIN
Capsaicin is an incredibly powerful and stable alkaloid that retains its original potency despite time, cooking, or freezing. Because it has no flavor, color, or odor, the precise amount of capsaicin present in chiles can only be measured by a specialized laboratory procedure known as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Although it has no odor or flavor, capsaicin is one of the most pungent compounds known, detectable to the palate in dilutions of 1 to 17 million. It is slightly soluble in water but very soluble in alcohols, fats, and oils.
P. A. Bucholtz in 1816 first discovered that the pungent principle of peppers could be extracted from the macerated pods with organic solvents. In 1846, L. T. Thresh reported in Pharmacy Journal that the pungent principle could be extracted in a crystalline state. It was Thresh who named the substance capsaicin. In 1878, the Hungarian medical scientist Endre Hogyes extracted capsaicin, which he called capsicol, and discovered that it stimulated the mucous membranes of the mouth and stomach and increased the secretion of gastric juices. Capsaicin was first synthesized in 1930 by E. Spath and F. S. Darling.
The word capsaicin actually describes a complex of related components named capsaicinoids by Japanese chemists S. Kosuge and Y. Inagaki in 1964. Capsaicinoids are the chemical compounds that give chile peppers their bite. Scientists have identified and isolated six naturally occurring members of this fiery family and one synthetic cousin, which is used as a reference gauge for determining the relative pungency of the others.
The major capsaicinoids that are contained in the crystalline extract are capsaicin (69%), dihydrocapsaicin (22%), and three minor related components: nordihydrocapsaicin (7%), homocapsaicin (1%), and homodihydrocapsaicin (1%). The synthetic capsaicinoid vanillylamide of n-nonanoic acid (VNA) was administered to 16 trained tasters by researchers Anna Krajewska and John Powers at the University of Georgia. The tasters compared the heat of VNA to the four natural capsaicinoids and the results were as follows.
The mildest capsaicinoid was nordihydrocapsaicin (NDHC), which was described as the “least irritating” and “fruity, sweet, and spicy.” Next was homodihydrocapsaicin (HDHC), a compound described as “very irritating,” and one that produced a “numbing burn” in the throat, which also was the most prolonged and difficult to rinse out.
The two most fiery capsaicinoid compounds were capsaicin (C) and dihydrocapsaicin (DHC), which produced burning everywhere from the midtongue and palate down into the throat. Evidently, all of the capsaicinoids work together to produce the pungency of peppers, but capsaicin itself is still rated the strongest. The chemical formula for capsaicin is C18H27NO3 and its structure is shown below.
A 1980 study by P. Rozin and P. Schiller concluded that people love chiles because they are receiving pleasure from a “constrained risk,” or a thrill. Such people are risk takers and eat chiles for the same reason that they may climb mountains or skydive. “These benignly masochistic activities are uniquely human,” Rozin and Schiller point out.
Dr. Andrew Weil believes that the chile eater experiences a “rush” similar to that produced by psychotropic drugs. “He knows that pain can be transformed into a friendly sensation whose strength can go into making him high,” Weil writes. He theorizes that familiarity with eating hot chiles enables the chile eater to “glide along on the strong stimulation, experiencing it as something between pleasure and pain that enforces concentration and brings about a high state of consciousness. This technique might be called ‘mouth surfing.’”
Pure capsaicin is so powerful that chemists who handle the crystalline powder must work in a filtered “tox room” in full body protection. The suit has a closed hood to prevent inhaling the powder. Says pharmaceutical chemist Lloyd Matheson of the University of Iowa, who once inhaled some capsaicin accidentally: “It’s not toxic, but you wish you were dead if you inhale it.” Another capsaicin expert, the late analytical chemist Marlin Bensinger, adds, “One milligram of pure capsaicin placed on your hand would feel like a red-hot poker and would surely blister the skin.”
Chemical structure of capsaicin. Wikimedia. GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Did capsaicin evolve to protect chile peppers from mammalian predators? That’s the theory of Dr. Michael Nee, emeritus associate curator of the New York Botanical Garden. Scientists have long speculated that plants produce secondary metabolites, chemicals that are not required for the primary life support of the plant. These metabolites fight off animal predators and perhaps even competing plant species.
Nee speculates that the capsaicin in chiles may be such a metabolite. It prevents animals from eating the chiles so that they can be consumed by fruit-eating birds who specialize in red fruits with small seeds. Mammals perceive a burning sensation from capsaicin but birds do not. The seeds pass through a bird’s digestive tract intact and encased in a perfect natural fertilizer. Many experts believe that the wild chiltepín (C. annuum var. glabriusculum) was spread by this method from South America to what is now the US-Mexico border.
It has long been believed that capsaicin was present only in the pods of the Capsicum genus and in no other plant or animal material. Howe
ver, during my research I uncovered a quote from W. Tang and G. Eisenbrand in Chinese Drugs of Plant Origin : “Capsaicin, the pungent principle of Capsicum species, was isolated from ginger rhizome.” Marlin Bensinger strongly believes this finding to be in error. He says the proper chemical precursors are simply not found in ginger.
TOXICITY OF CAPSAICINOIDS
To determine the lethal toxic level of capsaicinoids in animals, and to extrapolate that level for humans, researchers in 1980 performed a rather gruesome experiment with mice, rats, guinea pigs, and rabbits. Pure capsaicin was administered intravenously, subcutaneously, in the stomach and applied topically until the animals died. The lethal toxic doses of capsaicin, measured in milligrams per kilogram of animal weight, ranged from a mere 0.56 milligrams when administered intravenously, to 190 milligrams when consumed, to 512 milligrams when applied topically—which means that the poor animals were drowned in it. Indeed, the probable cause of death in all cases was presumed to be respiratory paralysis. Guinea pigs were the most sensitive to capsaicin, while rabbits were less susceptible. The author of the study, T. Glinsukon, concluded that the acute toxicity of capsaicinoids as a food additive for humankind was negligible. If humans are about as sensitive as mice, the acute fatal toxicity dose for a 150-pound person would be about 13 grams of pure crystalline capsaicinoids, which, frankly, sounds high to me. I think that less than that would be lethal.
