Preparing a Thai chili
One of the most intimidating ingredients in Indian or Thai cooking can be the tiny, searing chilies. It only takes one accidental swipe of the eyes or nose to make you wish you’d never met these little portable weapons of flesh destruction. Or at least ones that make you wish you could remove the afflicted skin. The burning lasts for hours and no amount of washing or soaking in vinegar makes a noticable difference. We’ve soldiered through this, trying to take every precaution against accidental facial exposure, but occasionally we forget and scratch that little itch by our eye, or rub our nose. Much pain ensues.
Now that I’ve made you swear off handling these chilies, I will share James’s oh-so-original method for chopping Thai chilies without pain. It only took us 3 years to figure out. At least you get to benefit from our stupidity. Below, for your viewing pleasure, is a step-by-step, illustrated guide to preparing a Thai chili for cooking. Our preparation includes removing the seeds and the white membrane, because this drastically reduces the heat factor of the chili. If you like it really, really hot, then just skip the removal of the seeds and membranes.
First, rinse the chili in water; then, holding on to the top of the chili with the lovely plastic bag you used to bring it home, chop off its head - I mean stem – as shown below. Set aside the stem.
Next, still holding the chili with the plastic bag, cut the chili in half lengthwise. Take one of the halves and carefully scrape out the seeds and the white membrane. As you can see below, this is best accomplished by inserting the tip of the knife under the membrane at one end, turning the knife horizontal and sliding the knife toward the opposite end of the chili. This should separate the membrane without losing too much of the chili. Repeat for the second half.
Again, holding one half at a time with the plastic bag, carefully slice the chili into slivers about a millimeter wide. Most recipes we’ve cooked call for either julienned or finely chopped chilies. If you just need julienned chilies, stop here.
Otherwise, gather up your julienned chili into a tidy little bundle and chop along their length until they are reduced to finely chopped chili bits, as pictured below.
We recommend washing your hands thoroughly after you finish chopping the chili(es), just to be sure that none of their fire has leaked through.
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