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Just curious. Over time, I've evolved (from a seven-toed sloth, very rare) into quite a fan of hot foods, as long as they also have a good deal of flavor. So I really like hot Indian dishes, and I add plenty of hot paprika to a glass of vegetable juice. Don't care much for attempts here in the Midwest at hot Cajun cooking, however, which usually involve nothing more than throwing a lot of black pepper at something. Really like good, authentic, hot chili, though my wife insists it should have beans (which is heresy).

So, what about you? Hot foods, and if so, which ones?

Nobody does spicy foods like us Asians. Growing up around peppers has helped me achieve a pretty high tolerance level for the hot stuff.

Loki[D.d.G] wrote:Nobody does spicy foods like us Asians. Growing up around peppers has helped me achieve a pretty high tolerance level for the hot stuff.

It is the pepper cultures that does it, isn't it? Southeast Asia, Mexico, Hungary: the places that love hot foods all grow the hot peppers.

fable wrote:It is the pepper cultures that does it, isn't it? Southeast Asia, Mexico, Hungary: the places that love hot foods all grow the hot peppers.

Indeed. There is just something about the sight and smell of chillies (or small green peppers) as we call them that just whets my appetite.

Not in food, no. But I like to cut some fresh peppers before I tinkle.

Tricky wrote:Not in food, no. But I like to cut some fresh peppers before I tinkle.

There is something seriously disturbing about that.

Timely thread. I ate Szechuan last night which I thoroughly enjoyed. Problem is, I think it was responsible for giving me some nasty cramps. *sigh*

Generally, however, I really enjoy hot and spicy food. Like Fable says though, it needs to have complex flavours too.. just a mouthful of burn and nothing else isn't very pleasant.

As far as regions.. I eat hot and spicy foods from all over. If I have to pick favourites, though, I'll say East Indian and Middle Eastern.

Spicy, yes. Hot, no. A bit of heat is fine, but not too much. Spices add a lot to food that may otherwise be boring, but add too much chilli and the taste vanishes in the furnace of your mouth. Yuk.
Indian and West Indian do the best spicy food, imo, and it ISN'T all hot as hell, either! They do that too, but I avoid the hot stuff.

One thing I've learned from experience is that the US definition of hot and spicy doesn't by any means meet that of the South-East Asian, like me. No offense intended.

Difficult to compare tastes in 'hot and spicy' food really. Just about anything you can get that's 'Indian' in this country isn't actually Indian at all, in origin anyway, but invented to suit British tastes. Typical of this is Phal or Tikka Masala. Both are pure British inventions or invented in India for the British Raj. The former is basically a heated up version of Vindaloo (itself not an original Indian dish) to give drunken idiots something to brag about!

My own preferences are for Rogan Josh, or Balti (the latter is itself a term covering many different types of dish, but usually is used for a mild chicken dish).

Outside of the sub-continent based dishes, I prefer Indonesian or Malay dishes, especially those of Singaporian origin. Yet again the caveat of 'as served inthe UK' has to be applied. How close they are to the genuine article is very debatable.

galraen wrote:Outside of the sub-continent based dishes, I prefer Indonesian or Malay dishes, especially those of Singaporian origin. Yet again the caveat of 'as served inthe UK' has to be applied. How close they are to the genuine article is very debatable.

Damn. Reading that has just made miss home.

A fellow South East Asian? Cool!


Hey Loki which SEAsian country are you from?

Thai food is famous for its "formidable spiciness" and the best by far to me would be Tom Yam Gung.

However, I prefer homegrown Filipino dishes from my mother's home province of the Bicol area... famous for its spicy food. I feel that our red pepper (siling labuyo) when added to the food as much as the Thais normally do, would make you breathe fire like your proverbial red dragon.

Of these Bicol dishes, my favorites are "Laing" (Gabi leaves with bits of ground pork cooked in coconut milk) as well as Jackfruit (Langka) also cooked in coconut milk.

@fable: Should you drop by here in the Phils., let me know. I would know what food to serve you.

Years upon years ago I went to a Thai restaurant. We ordered stuff off the menu, not really knowing what any of it meant. The food was hot but edible. What was really perplexing was the soup. It wasn't spicey hot, it just made you cough. Without fail every spoonful you swallowed produced one or two coughs. Totally crazy. We were the only people in the restaurant at the time and I think the personnel had a good laugh or two at our expense, back in the kitchen.

Tricky wrote:Years upon years ago I went to a Thai restaurant. We ordered stuff off the menu, not really knowing what any of it meant. The food was hot but edible. What was really perplexing was the soup. It wasn't spicey hot, it just made you cough. Without fail every spoonful you swallowed produced one or two coughs. Totally crazy. We were the only people in the restaurant at the time and I think the personnel had a good laugh or two at our expense, back in the kitchen.

Was it a resto in Thailand or a Thai resto abroad? The curry I suppose did not melt thoroughly.

Abroad. Where I grew up, there's a district in a nearby city where lots of Asian families opened restaurants. All the localvores like to go eat out there every now and then to return minor fortune back to their former colonial powers.

Tricky wrote: All the localvores like to go eat out there every now and then to return minor fortune back to their former colonial powers.

Hmmm... could be other south east asian countries. As far as Thailand is concerned, it's the only country in SEA that wasn't conquered or colonized by any country.

Prolly non-Thai cooks then, cooking Thai food to get back at their former colonial powers.

Hehe yeah we had a lot of colonies there, but I think Thailand would indeed be the exception.

Maharlika wrote:Hmmm... could be other south east asian countries. As far as Thailand is concerned, it's the only country in SEA that wasn't conquered or colonized by any country.

Prolly non-Thai cooks then, cooking Thai food to get back at their former colonial powers.

Technically Malaya wasn't a colony, so maybe you guys are on to something, as Malaysian food hasn't had any impact at all in the UK.

The problem with the revenge theory is that we Brits love asian food on the whole, well what we're sold as Asian anyway. Recouping financial losses is much closer to the mark though maybe, there's an awful lot of money that flows to the Sub Continent from the UK via restaurants and take-aways. I've found Asians far too pragmatic to put past grudges ahead of financial advantage!

Maharlika wrote:
Hey Loki which SEAsian country are you from?

Thai food is famous for its "formidable spiciness" and the best by far to me would be Tom Yam Gung.

I'm from Malaysia, like Des. And it just so happens Tom Yam is one of my favorite dishes.