If you’re a fan of fiery cuisine and are looking for a new food challenge, Southeast Asia is a great place to visit. It’s widely known that many Asian cuisines rely heavily on a wide range of spices.
In this High Five list, let’s honor some of the intriguing spicy food across Southeast Asia.
Tom Yum -Thailand
This popular Thai dish has the ideal balance of sour and spicy flavors. A soup that features the distinctive Thai flavors of lime juice, citrus leaves, a variety of aromatic herbs and spices, and lots of Thai bird’s eye chilies, and is typically served with chicken or shellfish.
Bicol Express – Philippines
Bicol Express, a popular Filipino stew, combines the flaming hot chilies and rich coconut milk that are hallmarks of Bicol cuisine. With its distinctive feature of being a creamy and spicy dish, Bicol Express is known natively in Bicol as “sinilihan” meaning “added with a lot of chillies”. Bicol express might be the dish you are looking for! Enjoy this creamy and spicy melt-in-your-mouth pork belly dish!
Devil’s Curry – Malaysia
Debal Curry, however more often known as “Devil Curry,” is the actual name of this delicious meal. The vinegar gives this popular meal in the Portuguese colony in Malacca its distinctive flavor and aroma. Because of the complexity of the flavors, this curry is best after sitting overnight. This recipe is sure to be fiery, as it is prepared with 30 shallots and 50 dry chilies.
Otak-otak – Malaysia & Singapore
A combination of fish paste, garlic, shallots, turmeric, lemon grass, coconut milk, and, you got it, lots of chili peppers, these fish cakes are often steamed or cooked on a bamboo leaf. To suit personal preference, the heat level may be changed.
Oseng Mercon – Indonesia
Oseng Mercon is a perfect example of how Indonesia’s love with pedas-ness verges on the masochistic. Oseng simply means “stir-fried” in Indonesian, but the word “mercon” really refers to a particular kind of firecracker and perfectly captures the hot bursts you would experience in your mouth after just one mouthful. The explosive formula for Oseng Mercon is really fairly simple. The meal is made up of beef and fat trimmings, locally referred to as tetelan and koyor, that are cooked with a lot of chili pepper and a little palm sugar to balance the taste.
if you’re feeling adventurous, give it a try! Share your thoughts below!