The market · Chillies and peppers · Southeast Asia
Bird's eye chillies
Small, sharp and fierce: the chilli of Thai cooking.
sharp · fierce
What to do with it
JavanesePecelBlanched greens and sprouts under a hot peanut sauce scented with kencur and lime leaf, with rice and a crisp peanut cracker.No one here has made it yetSundaneseNasi timbelRice rolled hot in banana leaf, served with fried chicken, tofu, tempeh, salted fish, raw vegetables and sambal.No one here has made it yetSundanesePepes ikanFish rubbed with a yellow spice paste, wrapped in banana leaf with lemon basil, tomato and chilli, then steamed and grilled.No one here has made it yetSundaneseLalapan and sambal terasiRaw leaves and vegetables — cucumber, cabbage, lemon basil, long beans, small aubergines — with a sambal of chilli, toasted shrimp paste and tomato.No one here has made it yetBalineseBabi gulingA whole young pig stuffed with base genep and greens, rubbed with turmeric and spit-roasted over wood until the skin shatters.No one here has made it yetBalineseBebek betutuA whole duck or chicken stuffed and smothered with base genep, wrapped and cooked slowly in embers until it falls apart.No one here has made it yetBalineseLawarFinely chopped meat, vegetables and grated coconut, mixed with base genep and lime — made fresh for ceremonies and eaten the same day.No one here has made it yetBalineseSate lilitMinced fish or pork mixed with grated coconut, base genep and lime leaf, pressed around lemongrass or flat bamboo and grilled.No one here has made it yetBalineseBase genepThe complete Balinese spice paste: shallot, garlic, four rhizomes, chilli, candlenut, shrimp paste and warm spices, ground together.No one here has made it yetBalineseSambal matahA raw sambal of sliced shallot, lemongrass, chilli and lime leaf, with toasted shrimp paste and lime, dressed in hot coconut oil.No one here has made it yetMinahasanAyam rica-ricaChicken cooked in a paste of fresh red and bird's eye chilli, shallot, garlic and ginger, finished with lemongrass, lime leaf and lemon basil.No one here has made it yetMinahasanCakalang fufuSkipjack tuna, split and clamped in bamboo frames, then smoked until firm and dark — eaten fried, shredded into sambal or cooked in rica.No one here has made it yetMinahasanIkan wokuFish cooked in a yellow paste of turmeric, chilli and candlenut with a great handful of fresh leaves — lemon basil, lemongrass, pandan, lime leaf.No one here has made it yetMinahasanDabu-dabuA fresh sambal of chopped tomato, shallot and chilli, sharpened with small citrus and poured over with hot oil.No one here has made it yetMinahasanPanadaA soft yeasted dough folded around spiced, shredded skipjack and fried golden.No one here has made it yetMinahasanTinoransakPork packed into green bamboo with chilli, ginger, lemongrass and lemon basil, and cooked in the flames.No one here has made it yet
ThaiTom yumA hot and sour broth scented with lemongrass, galangal and lime leaf, sharpened with lime and fish sauce — usually with prawns.No one here has made it yet
ThaiSom tamShredded green papaya pounded with chilli, garlic, lime, fish sauce and palm sugar, with tomatoes, long beans and peanuts.No one here has made it yet
ThaiPad kaphraoMinced pork or chicken stir-fried hard with garlic, bird's eye chilli and holy basil, over rice with a crisp fried egg.No one here has made it yet
ThaiKhao man gaiPoached chicken on rice cooked in the chicken's fat and stock, with a sharp sauce of fermented soybean, ginger, garlic and chilli.No one here has made it yet
VietnameseBánh mìA light, crackling-crusted baguette filled with pâté, cold cuts or grilled meat, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, coriander and chilli.No one here has made it yet
VietnameseNước chấmFish sauce thinned with water, sharpened with lime, sweetened with sugar, with garlic and chilli floating on top.No one here has made it yetFilipinoSisigPig's face and ears boiled, grilled and chopped fine with onion, chilli and calamansi, served on a sizzling iron plate.No one here has made it yetFilipinoBicol expressPork simmered in coconut milk with shrimp paste and a great many chillies, until the sauce is thick and oily.No one here has made it yetBrazilianAcarajéBlack-eyed pea fritters fried in dendê, split open and filled with vatapá, dried shrimp, salad and hot pepper sauce.No one here has made it yet
ThaiTom yumA hot and sour broth scented with lemongrass, galangal and lime leaf, sharpened with lime and fish sauce — usually with prawns.No one here has made it yetThaiSom tamShredded green papaya pounded with chilli, garlic, lime, fish sauce and palm sugar, with tomatoes, long beans and peanuts.No one here has made it yetThaiPad kaphraoMinced pork or chicken stir-fried hard with garlic, bird's eye chilli and holy basil, over rice with a crisp fried egg.No one here has made it yetThaiKhao man gaiPoached chicken on rice cooked in the chicken's fat and stock, with a sharp sauce of fermented soybean, ginger, garlic and chilli.No one here has made it yetVietnameseBánh mìA light, crackling-crusted baguette filled with pâté, cold cuts or grilled meat, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, coriander and chilli.No one here has made it yetVietnameseNước chấmFish sauce thinned with water, sharpened with lime, sweetened with sugar, with garlic and chilli floating on top.No one here has made it yetFilipinoSisigPig's face and ears boiled, grilled and chopped fine with onion, chilli and calamansi, served on a sizzling iron plate.No one here has made it yetFilipinoBicol expressPork simmered in coconut milk with shrimp paste and a great many chillies, until the sauce is thick and oily.No one here has made it yetBrazilianAcarajéBlack-eyed pea fritters fried in dendê, split open and filled with vatapá, dried shrimp, salad and hot pepper sauce.No one here has made it yetIf you can't find it
Asian grocers, fresh or frozen.
- Any small hot red chilli, about the same number; or a pinch of chilli flake per chilliYou lose some of the clean, sharp heat.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Fresh, in bags; they freeze perfectly.
Kitchens that keep it in
Central and East Java, and Madura, IndonesiaJavaneseThe cooking of Indonesia's most populous island: sweet with palm sugar and kecap manis in the centre, saltier and hotter towards the east, with tempeh and tofu at nearly every meal.9 classicsWest Java, IndonesiaSundaneseThe cooking of West Java's highlands: raw vegetables and fresh sambal, pond fish wrapped in banana leaf, rice packed hot in a leaf, and Bandung's street snacks.8 classicsBali, IndonesiaBalineseThe cooking of Hindu Bali: pork roasted whole, duck slow-cooked in spice, lawar chopped for the temple feast, and base genep, the paste behind nearly everything.9 classicsMinahasa, North Sulawesi, IndonesiaMinahasanThe cooking of Sulawesi's northern tip: fierce with fresh chilli, green with herbs, full of skipjack tuna from the Celebes Sea, and with a few Dutch cakes kept from long ago.9 classicsThailandThaiA cooking of balance, tasted and adjusted at every step: sour, sweet, salty and hot in the same mouthful, sharpened with herbs.11 classicsVietnamVietnameseClear broths, fish sauce and a plate of fresh herbs: a cooking of contrasts — hot and cool, soft and crisp — finished by each person at the table.11 classics