Birds eye chillies

Faith

I sent himself to the shop to get a normal, pretty mild red chilli to put into a pasta dish. I'm very bad with heat, so that's the most I can handle in a dish (with the seeds and membrane removed!). He came back with a sizable bag of feckin' birds eye chillies! I can't imagine cooking with them, so short of throwing them in the bin, is there anything else I can do with them? I was thinking of drying them out and making chilli flakes or something?

Toulouse

http://www.rivercottage.net/forum/ask/processing-and-other-crafts/4246what-to-do-with-a-glut-of-chillis/p:1/

Suggestions for chilli oil, jelly, drying, sweet chilli sauce and pickled chillis!

duploelabs

Faith wrote: »

I sent himself to the shop to get a normal, pretty mild red chilli to put into a pasta dish. I'm very bad with heat, so that's the most I can handle in a dish (with the seeds and membrane removed!). He came back with a sizable bag of feckin' birds eye chillies! I can't imagine cooking with them, so short of throwing them in the bin, is there anything else I can do with them? I was thinking of drying them out and making chilli flakes or something?

If you soak them in lemon juice when chopped, it will take out the 'bite' in them. Sugar will also help with the heat, it won't kill it altogether and it won't rescue it if it's burning the mouth off you but will help tone it down

Outkast_IRE

I actually grow my own birds eye chillis, they are a hotter than normal shop bought chillis without a doubt.

Dishes i commonly use them in.

1. Chilli Burger- one or two diced very fine and used as part of the mix to make a fresh mince burger, i have my own recipe but i always reccomend adding decent amount of grated cheese into the mince mix it will compliment and mellow the chilli.

2. Red thai curry- Birds eye are a very common chilli over there and one or two will work really well with the coconut milk in the curry.

3. Use them as part of a marinade for chicken fillets, that way you will get all the flavour but not all of the heat. Usually i marindade over night with chilli and lime, then roll in some smoked paprika and cajun before grilling the breasts.

duploelabs

Faith wrote: »

I sent himself to the shop to get a normal, pretty mild red chilli to put into a pasta dish. I'm very bad with heat, so that's the most I can handle in a dish (with the seeds and membrane removed!). He came back with a sizable bag of feckin' birds eye chillies! I can't imagine cooking with them, so short of throwing them in the bin, is there anything else I can do with them? I was thinking of drying them out and making chilli flakes or something?

how about making a chilli oil?

irish_goat

I used to be bad with heat but still enjoyed the tastiness you get from using
stronger chillis so I used to just use a tiny slice or two in a chilli/stirfry and then freeze the rest.

CJhaughey

Make a Sambal? Pickle them in vinegar?
Both will last a while in your fridge or maybe not if you grow to like chilli.:P

sheikhnguyen

We use them all the time, you can freeze them and keep using them for months without them losing a huge amount of heat. Just put them into a ziplock bag first.

The Hill Billy

But that is the issue - the OP doesn't tolerate heat well.

Lovely Bloke

use them to make Rice & Peas, for that dish they go in whole, instead of chopped or sliced, so there is no heat imparted, just flavour.

And Rice & Peas is absolutely delicious.

Faith

Some great ideas here, thanks! I'm definitely going to make chilli oil.

Similar to what Baldy suggested there, if I cut one up into maybe two large pieces and added it while cooking, but took it out at the end, would it add flavour and a kick of heat, or would I still get a big whack of heat?

Lovely Bloke

Cutting it and putting it into a dish that is cooking is going to mean a whack of heat - the heat is in the seeds, membranes and flesh, so if you expose them to the dish during cooking you'll get the heat, maybe not as much as slicing or finely chopping it might do, but for someone like yourself with an aversion to anything very hot, I wouldn't do it, especially not with Birds Eyes.

8-10

Just be careful chopping, wear a glove if you can. Can be dangerous to accidentally rub your eye afterwards.

Lovely Bloke

8-10 wrote: »

Just be careful chopping, wear a glove if you can. Can be dangerous to accidentally rub your eye afterwards.

or go to the bathroom. shudder.

duploelabs

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

or go to the bathroom. shudder.

or get amorous

Lovely Bloke

duploelabs wrote: »

or get amorous

:eek:

angeldelight

Rather than chop it, what you can do if using in a recipe with a sauce/marinade is just put one or two slits in the chilli and add it for the marinade or cooking time then remove. I do this with the really hot chillis in the Aldi assorted pack and it works ok

Faith

8-10 wrote: »

Just be careful chopping, wear a glove if you can. Can be dangerous to accidentally rub your eye afterwards.

Oh, trust me, I've learnt my lesson with chopping chillies :eek:. It seems to continue to sting my skin for up to a couple of days afterwards.

duploelabs

If you are working with Chillis and need to protect your hands as the "burn" will soak in to your skin and stay there, just rub your hands in a bit of olive oil. Not massive amounts so they're unusuable but a little it and it'll help with your skin absorbing it