Asian Window

From Kuensel:

To most foreigners, chilli is something of a provocative oddity in the cuisine. What kind of vegetable makes a person break into a sweat and yelp and howl and gasp for relief, all at the same time? Or worse, makes you scoot to the loo right after consuming it. There is little room in mainstream cookery for food so potently flavoured and impolite, they protest.

To a Bhutanese, however, ema (chilli) enjoys an exalted culinary position. It isn’t just a food or a fad. It is the stuff of life. It is integral Bhutanese heritage and culture.

It’s not just the vegetable; it’s the taste. A bowl of black dhal or a cauliflower sabzi in a diner in India is likely to contain some chillies, and would be considered very hot by most people there. But that, as every Bhutanese who has studied in India would vouch, is piddling compared with the blistering fury of a highland Bhutanese chilli. But it is not raw heat that makes Bhutanese chillies distinctive. It is their incomparable sharp flavour, which some describe as succulent and earthy, with a clarity that seems to reflect the taste and smell of the skies and landscapes of Bhutan.

More:

Similar Posts:

• The Naga chilli
• India plans hot chilli grenades
• Bhutan a big draw in US
• Made in China: samosa and paratha
• Curry for a crowd