Sometimes, even cooking requires research. I found these intriguing little bombs while shopping in Cameron Highlands. Being priced the same as other vegs, I took a pack to try out. The girl at the stall said they were "cili Benggala". "Pedas ni kak", she added.
No knowing how pedas is pedas, I sliced 2 and added them into my nasi goreng mix this afternoon. The first warning came while menumis. It was so pungent I started coughing hard. Oh oh... What IS this thing?? When done, the nasi was so pedas I had to tame it with kicap, tomato sauce, keledek and additional nasi.. Phew.
Later baru I googled up the cili varieties and saw the lookalike.
Scoville scale:
Habanero 100,000 - 350,000
Cili api aka Birds eye 100,000 - 225,000
Right: What I found on the net
Based on the photos, I think I can safely conclude that they were indeed habaneros - one of the hottest chillies on earth. Looking at the Scoville scale, it's roughly same or half again as pedas as our cili api. Wow. No wonder la so pungent!
Oh well, I've always wondered how pedas habanero and jalapeno really are, since our tastebuds are mostly immune to capsaicin. So now I know lah. Ha ha. Wonder if I could tanam a few plants from the seeds. It would be so cool to have a few in the garden... :D
2 comments:
Hi Oza. I first saw this type of chilli when i was in kuching last month. I bought some, dried it & just planted it. Hope it will grow.wek
Hi Wek,
How's your baby chillies coming along? Glad to see you still visiting my vent-site :) Take care, babes!
Cheers,
Oza
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