Chillies has been a passion of mine since I was about 15. I think it started with my introduction to hot food through my dad. Saturday night was always curry night. I started with a novice, frilly-knicker option of madras, but soon was matching my dad with his bottom-scorching Vindaloo option.
I couldn't believe that there existed a food which you could bite in to and it bit you right back!
Around the same time I remember that my dad always had a bottle of devilish-red West Indian hot sauce on the dining table. He added it to most meals...and puddings! He called it 'Man Sauce', and with three sons sitting around the table, we all aspired to be men. My brothers tried taking some of the sauce with certain meals, but I think what made me different to them was I really and truly enjoyed it.
How can one describe the sensation of extra hot sauce and hot food? I guess for me it's exhilaration. I simply get a rush from eating hot food. A doctor would say it's the endorphins rushing around my body, well, whatever it is , it's a wonderful feeling.
It's more that that though.
A chilli pepper is, for me , a beautiful thing to look at. No matter what the variety, they are colourful, shiny, curvaceous... almost sensual. Ok, did I go a bit far? Well I'm not apologising, I really do LOVE them.
So, 3 years ago, I think, I had offered to take something along to contribute to a curry night party or something with family and friends. I had seen something on Keith Floyd in India ( massive fan btw) involving deep fried vegetables, so I tried to make some. So I deep fried broccoli florets, cauliflower, aubergines, etc and of course, chillies.
Well the chillies went down a storm so I was invited back again ( I must have behaved myself that evening) to make some more deep fried chillies at the next big event. So I did. I think I improved the batter that time and they went down an absolute storm. People loved the Russian roulette of the deep fried jalepenos, ie every 6th one blew the top of your head off! I enjoyed the debate too that people indulged in, along the lines of 'Are the red ones hot or the green?'and 'What do I have to do now to make the heat go away?'. The bottom line was , they could not get enough of them. It was all good fun and friends and family began asking for recipes on how to make them.
Soon after I started competing in chilli con carne cook-offs. These were held around the country and I entered several of the more local events. In my first year I finished a creditable second play in one of the heats which meant I qualified for the UK finals in Brighton. It was all really good fun!
However, having to cook a gallon of chilli for lots of people with the very best quality ingredients was not cheap. So I needed to come up with an idea for what I could sell on the side to reduce my expenses. So, what else could I do but to launch my DFCs on the world.
Sorry, that was longer than I had planned for background information, however, you are now up to speed with things.
This May 4th I will be competing in another chilli cook off, the difference is I will also be cooking and selling my Deep Fried Chillies to a whole new audience.
The intention of this Blog is to share that journey of how it all goes. I will always try and keep them short and sweet. Anyway, thanks for reading this far, you deserve a sticker.
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