Santaka's on the wire!

I just made my first fried chile paste.  My entire apartment reeks in such a good way.  Thank god the weather is good so I can have all my windows open.  Instead of crafting a sambal or a nam prik I decided to go for a foundation - pure chiles with only adding oil and a splash of lemon juice.  Salt, dried shrimp, lemon grass, any and all other additives are being left out for the time being.  My idea is to have this chile paste and add to it as the dish requires.  As it stands, the paste has a vicious bite to it but due that magic of roasting (SCIENCE!) there is also a really rich bass note to both the heat and flavour.

I will be storing this batch and sending it out in the next week.  I will have some on reserve for further blending purposes.

Here's what I done did recipe:

• A couple of beers
• Roughly two dozen fresh Santaka chiles
• A tablespoon or so of olive oil

1. Drink beers.
2. Preheat oven to 450.
3. Destem chiles and throw in large bowl.
4. When all the chiles are destemmed, coat/toss in oil, put in Pyrex baking container, then put chiles in pan in oven.
5. Roast for about thirty minutes.
6. Take out of oven, put in blender with the juice of on half lemon.  Blend.
7. Heat a skillet on med-low.  Put contents of blender in pan when hot.  Add the juice of the other half of lemon.
8. Add another tablespoon of oil to pan.
9. Keep chiles in pan moving.  DO NOT BURN.
10. After about five minutes put the chiles back in the blender.  Important safety tip:  Do not put hot pan full of chile oil in the sink and then pour cold water in it.  I didn't do that because it was something I learned years ago.  Hot pan with chile oil + cold water = chile steam.
11. Blend the chiles again in the blender.
12. Tada!  Put paste in pyrex (not plastic) container or other glass container.  Store in fridge.

More news to follow once I stop sneezing.

been-jamin is trying to either...

A)  Kill me.
B)  Make me see beyond time and space.

As some of you might have noticed my old friend has posted on HYR and has been sending me some of his latest chile crop.  Today I received in the post a slew of Santakas (my current favorite chile) which I will definitely make into a fried chile paste once I find a recipe I like.  Additionally there is a gorgeous, I mean stunning, Trinidad Yellow Seven Pod.  I wish I had a decent camera because the yellow is just so damn vibrant. Additionally, and the reason I think that the man is out to get me, there is the Trinidad Scorpion.  Yes, that Trinidad Scorpion.  I swear to god the fucking thing hissed at me while I was sorting out the peppers.  I might not eat it, I might just use it as a ward against sorcery and restless spirits.  Or I might powder it, mix it with tetrodotoxin and bone meal and make me some good old fashioned zombies.  Or I might eat the thing and if I don't die I'll get it inked on my chile tattoo arm.

If anyone needs me I'll be in the kitchen.

How to make Hooliganyouth's day:

An old friend from back East turned my day from shit to sunshine.  How?  With a shipment of fresh Bhut Jolokias, Congo Blacks, Santakas (a chile I have been waiting years to try), and Ring of Fires.

Frankly I'm a little scared.  The pile of chiles are sitting on the counter and for some insane reason the Do Lung Bridge scene from Apocalypse Now came into my head.  The smell alone gave me goosebumps.  Some people ride roller coasters, some people scale cliffs, some swim with sharks.  Me?  I'm a chilehead.

Photos and reviews and recipes pending as soon as I can figure out what I am gonna do with these.