Looking for some inspiration, my wife’s out of town this week babysitting he grandmother with dementia, so she’s been eating a lot of very bland, old-white-lady-palate-approved meals (her grandmother once described some jarred vodka sauce as being “too spicy”)
We’re both pretty adventurous eaters and spice-lovers, and I know it’s driving her mad by now, so I figured I’d welcome her home in a couple days with a dinner full of all the biggest flavor bombs I can find
Help me light her taste buds on fire, decimated my spice cabinet, and make my toilet tremble in fear of what is to come.
Jerk chicken. It’s a bomb, in both flavour and heat.
There’s also pira caldo, a fish… stew? soup? using bell peppers, hot peppers, leek, cheese, cilantro. While it’s typically mild, you can make it really hot if you want, and it’s still delicious. (If interested tell me so and I’ll translate the recipe, I couldn’t find good ones in English.)
I’m a pepperhead myself but my wife has a very low tolerance so I tend to cook mildly hot meals at best and add heat in my own plate. I have a fridge rack full of hot sauces.
One of my favorite dishes to unleash the hot sauce collection is homemade tacos (disclaimer, I’m not Mexican):
- Guacamole for freshness and acidity (avocado, lime juice, chopped coriander, shallots, tabasco sauce, cumin powder, salt)
- Elote-style sauce for richness and creaminess (50/50 mayo and heavy cream, grated garlic, chopped coriander, crumbled feta, pimienton de la Vera, corn (grilled fresh is better, canned is fine))
- Grilled/braised protein and veggies for earthiness, umami and heat (chicken, onions, red peppers, cumin powder, coriander seeds powder, all the peppers you want, it works great with earthy or smoky peppers like ancho, chipotle, pimienton de la Vera, habanero etc.)
- Pico de gallo for added freshness (chopped onion, chopped coriander, chopped tomato, lime juice)
- Pickled jalapenos for acidity and heat
Put everything in the middle of the table with tortillas and have fun. It seems like a lot of stuff to do but good prep makes it easy and streamlined as a lot of ingredients are shared or similar. Every preparation is super flavorful by itself but really shines with hot sauces as you can tune brightness, earthiness and heat in each mouthful.
Indian. My favourite is chicken vindaloo which is fairly spicy and sour.
Lot’s of Thai and Korean dishes for flavorful yet spicy dishes. They are not super easy to make though.
I’d maybe go for a good Tom Yum soup. The aromatics in this are Makrut Lime leaves (can sub in lime peels if you can’t find leaves), Lemongrass, Thai curry paste, and whatever spicy peppers type you want to use for heat. Put it whatever veggies you want, and let it go. AMAZING flavor. Perfect in colder weather.
Tom Kha is a coconut and chicken broth based soup with similar flavors as Tom Yum, but with coconut added in. It mutes the acidity and spice a tad, then adds in that nice sweet coconut dimension. Also delicious.
Maybe try one of these two soups, then some Korean Ban Chan dishes on the side. Side of cabbage or radish Kimchi, naturally.
I literally came here to recommend Tom Yum.
You’ve got good taste.
This weekend I halved and scored an eggplant, rubbed the cut sides with harissa and grilled. It was inedibly hot. Cheers!
https://www.badmanners.com/recipes/garlic-sriracha-noodles
It’s not very spicy but it’s so full of flavor
There’s a world of spicy flavour out there! Try these:
Jamaican Curry Goat - you can substitute lamb or even go curry chicken instead. If you’re cooking Jamaican, try and get hold of Scotch Bonnet chillies, they bring a different flavour!
Ghanaian Peanut Stew - if you’re cooking West African food, be sure to try some Jollof Rice.
Goan Pork Vindaloo - this is the vinegar-based Goan original rather than the British Indian version.
Sichuan ‘Dan Dan’ noodles - try and get some proper Sichuan peppercorns if you can!
Korean pork BBQ This is a pretty spicy dish that’s not too hard to make. I usually end up substituting a couple ingredients but it always come out nicely.
Tuscan Chicken Not exactly spicy, but it’s such a flavourful dish that I just have to recommend it. A huge amount of sun-dried tomatoes gives this dish a distinctive taste. I usually add whatever vegetables I feel like and it always come out great.
It isn’t a dish in itself but Laoganma Crispy Chili Oil is the fucking best.
I presumed you were in the US (so sorry if not) so found a link relevant for there and it seems like it is called Spicy Chilli Crisp there. Either way though added to a dish when cooking adds a great flavour with a good amount of heat. Add it after cooking on top for even more of a kick.
It definitely isn’t the hottest you will get but it is a great flavour with a great amount of heat IMO.
- 1 eggplant, cubed - 1/2 onion, diced - garlic, a lot, minced - mushrooms, various, diced - bok choy, diced - kimchee, your favorite brand - gochujang Korean hot sauce, a lot - stock (vegetable, chicken, fish, whatever you prefer)Sauté everything in a big pot until nicely browned, add stock until covered, add in gochujang to taste, and simmer until thick. Serve over rice.
Not a dish, but a condiment. I like to make a huge batch of this (like 3x the amount) and put it on damned near everything:
https://www.seriouseats.com/homemade-spicy-chili-crisp
But if you don’t want to make it out, Fly By Jing is quite good.
Anything that uses jalapeno I just replace the jalapeno with habanero. It’s the spiciest pepper that I think still has some good flavor in addition to being hella hot. Everything hotter is just hot with tastes ranging from nothing to dogshit.
