My favourite dishes contain heat, I mean Habanero or Thai Chili style heat. It is a flavourful but potent heat which could, for some, have – ahem, lingering side effects. But it’s not just the heat I like, I want taste with heat. Heat alone just burns your tongue and if you like this – all the power to you. Habanero peppers or Thai Chilies in the right recipe provide both heat and taste. Here’s a recipe for simple pickled peppers that combine these two great master chilies with some vinegar, salt and sugar to make a great condiment to add spice any meal from a simple sandwich to fish or meat. Heat and taste that pack a punch, now there’s a winning combination. As always – enjoy!
Usual Mandatory Warnings and Disclaimers:
Use gloves while handling any peppers with this much heat
Do not touch any bodily part – whether you are using gloves or not, until you have completely washed your hands a few times in soap or a vinegar rinse followed by soap
Packs a punch so use sparingly.
1 cup total chopped Habanero and Thai Chilies – the finer the chop the tastier, leave some larger chunks though – the picture below also contains Bird Pepper (a West Indian pepper which also packs a punch) and chopped garlic – which becomes unbelievably flavorful when pickled – so try it, really!
1 cup White Pickling Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
1 tblsp Sugar
Stir the vinegar with the salt and sugar over a medium heat until dissolved – let it cool – taste it, you should have a flavorful vinegar, add small amounts of salt and sugar to achieve a flavorful mix
Chop the chilies
Put the chopped chilies in a sterilized pickling jar, top with the vinegar mixture- vinegar should cover the chilies – if you don’t have enough, add more vinegar
Keep refrigerated for a couple of days before using.
Great condiment with a punch that can be served with any type of Indian/Thai/Asian style food or even BBQ fare – try putting some on a burger with onions, ketchup and these pickled peppers. The combination of sweet and heat is unbelievable. This also makes a great dipping sauce for dumplings or a great addition to a sandwich. Enjoy – with caution!