Thanks to my old school days in Singapore, chili has become a more important condiment than ever in my life. Not that I can't live without the burning devil, it really adds so much to the food that, well, I miss it when I have not had it for awhile. It's almost like that date you can never get! Anyway, chillies are fun to eat. There's so many different kinds of them out there in the world for the most daring and brave souls out there to try. It's not in my field to talk about them, but I would like to share a few frightening experiences that I had with chilies, and I don't mean just the usual lip or tongue stings.
So here I was making Hainanese chicken (for those Malaysian/Singaporean food lovers out there) at home one weekend and decided to go adventurous and make the chili sauce for dipping from scratch. Now I needed to blend some garlic, lime juice, ginger and other things together with the fresh red chillies, but we had no blender! Just chop it finely with the knife, I thought. Brilliant idea. Yes, brilliant, that is only until my finger tips started to grow a light burning sensation. And before I knew it, it started to feel like a burning flame all over my hand. What can one do but to wait it off slowly? So there I was, eating my Hainanese chicken with my right hand while having my left hand dipped into a bowl of milk and ice. At least I didn't have to go into the emergency room looking like a fool!
But the emergency room call came even closer in another chili incident. If you haven't already noticed, I have a love for pho (see previous post). And during a latest reunion with one group of friends of mine at Angkor Restaurant (Victoria Street at 33rd Avenue, Vancouver), I ordered a bowl. Un-chopped fresh chillies on the table. I was careful as a split the chili up with my hands and making sure to clean my hands off to prevent the finger burn (lesson learnt). So I was happily enjoying the delicious broth (more on the pho here at another time) on this hot summer night. Heck, people eat this stuff in Southeast Asia where it's even hotter! Anyway, the problem hit after I finished. So it has been a hot day and I had lots of liquid and now a bowl of broth, and after using the facilities, a burning sensation began where I least expected it from eating chili. Yes, it started to burn after urination!!! I had no choice but to return to the table to rejoin my friends in the conversation. I tried to concentrate on the talk but I was sweating and that burn just didn't go away! It was so bad that I had to kept signaling to call it a night. It must have only been another 15 or 20 minutes before we left the restaurant, and as we stood outside the entrance, it gradually went away. Well, I was glad it went away before I had to start driving home otherwise there might have been another accident because I couldn't concentrate on my driving! Phew, what a day.
So what's your ultimate chili burning experience?
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