Dabu-dabu – the Indonesian "salsa"

I did a little investigating and found several recipes for dabu-dabu. It seems that like any popular dish, there are as many recipes as there are cooks, but the basics remain the same: tomatoes, chilies, lime juice and oil. Common variations include using shallots in place of green onions and the addition of fresh basil. No matter how you make it, be sure to give it a day or more to "ferment" before using. Otherwise it will taste quite "rough".

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Mix all the ingredients together.
• Store in the refrigerator for at least one day before using.

Cashew Chicken

I’ve jazzed up the typical recipe a little with the addition of a marinade and some sweet peppers. I also like to pan roast the cashews for use in this dish.

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

Preparation Method

• Pour the orange juice, soy sauce, salt and pepper over the chicken and marinate for about 30 minutes.
• Heat the oil in a wok over medium flame. Stir-fry the garlic. When it begins to color, add the chicken and continue stir-frying until the chicken is cooked through, about three minutes.
• Add the cashews, chillies, onions and pepper. Continue cooking and stirring until the onions are soft, about four minutes.
• When serving, garnish with the sliced spur chili, coriander leaves and some additional spring onions.

Red and green spur chilies.

The spur chili’s purpose is often more decorative than functional. It is frequently used as a garnish to add colour to a dish, although the chili’s own heat should not be under estimated. Many northern recipes call for roasted chilies, and the spur chili is quite good for this. Use only the ripe red kind, since they are easier to peel once roasted.

The Thai spur chili is directly descended from the Tabasco chili used to make the famous American sauce. So, if you are unable to find the Thai chili, try to find Tabascos.

Chilies drying on a rattan basket.

When visiting just about any Thai market, you’re bound to see stalls with mounds of dried chillies for sale. The chilies appear in a surprising array of sizes and shades of red. The larger-sized ones are made from fully ripened red spur chilies, while the smaller ones are made from mouse-dropping chilies. The range of colors is mostly due to the degree of ripeness of the fresh chillies. Most cooks advise selecting the darkest red dried chilies for the best taste.

In their dried form, chilies impart a different taste to dishes, which is why some recipes call for one or the other, and sometimes both. Most recipes calling for dried chilies may require that they be soaked in water for a few minutes before use to re-hydrate them. The seeds may also be removed and discarded before use should a less spicy dish be preferred.

You will probably only actually see dried chilies in just a few Thai dishes. In most recipes, they are ground into the curry paste together with other ingredients such as garlic, shallots and lemongrass. Some stir-fries also call for the addition of ground dried chilies, which is also commonly found as a condiment for noodle dishes. You can grind dried chilies in a stone mortar and pestle, or you can find ground dried chilies in Thai supermarkets.

They’re what a lot of people think of first when the topic of Thai food comes up: Those teeny tiny innocuous looking chillies that don’t seem like they could do much harm, but those that have carelessly eaten one on that assumption know better. David Thompson, in his compendium on Thai Food, refers to them as ‘scuds’ for their ability to sneak up on you and wreak complete destruction on your tongue.

The English name – mouse dropping chilies – of these tiny powerhouses is a direct translation of the highly descriptive, if rather rude, Thai name. Another English name is ‘bird’s eye chilies.’ The chilies are used fresh in a number of dishes, where they are often ground to spread their flavor more evenly through the dish. While the chilies can be purchased in red or green colors, only the green ones are used in green curries, at least if you want them to be green.

Mouse dropping chilies

I often wonder what Thai food was like before the chili. The capsicum was only introduced to Asia from the new world about 300 years ago. You can credit Christopher Columbus’ physician for the discovery of chillies, in 1493. Archaeological evidence from Peru dates the cultivation of the chili pepper back as early as 7000 B.C. It was the Portuguese who bought peppers to Siam and the rest of Asia. The Portuguese were the first westerners to make contact with Siam. The first envoy arrived in the Siamese capital city of Ayutthaya soon after the Portuguese captured the key port of Malacca in modern Malaysia in 1511, which at the time was nominally a vassal of Siam.

So, how did a non-native vegetable from the other side of the world come to play such an important role in Thai cuisine? There are a fair number of theories on this subject. One of the most common is the ‘sweat’ theory, which holds that since hot chillies make you perspire, they create an evaporative cooling effect. A more scientific sounding theory has it that the chili pepper’s place in cooking is due to its preservative effect. In hot humid tropical climates like Thailand, food can spoil very fast. The oleo-resins that give the chili its heat also inhibit the growth of the micro-organisms that cause food to spoil. Supporters of this theory need to look no further for proof than one of Chiang Mai’s most famous products: a fermented pork sausage called naem. Naem is made from raw pork, chopped mouse dropping chillies, a bit of garlic and not much else. The sausage is allowed to ferment for a few days to a week so that the chillies can do their work, but the meat is never cooked.

If you can’t find mouse dropping chillies in your local green grocer, you can try substituting some other small chili, although the taste will not be quite the same. The Thai chili is most closely related to the Mexican Serrano chili. Both are technically strains of Capsicum annum, which surprisingly includes sweet bell peppers as well. The presence or absence of just one gene determines whether or not a pepper plant produces spicy or sweet fruits.