RE: [CH] Looking for good recipes using Thai Hots

T. Matthew Evans (matt.evans@ce.gatech.edu)
Mon, 29 Jul 2002 09:03:11 -0400 

Rob --

Welcome, welcome, welcome....

I posted this method of preservation last year, but as we are all in the
thick of the harvest (well, in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) I will be
happy to post again.  This is really a "method" rather than a "recipe", but
I have always had very good results and I find that the whole is much
greater than the sum of the parts.

1.  Cap all of your chiles and place them in a food processor.  Process
until finely chopped -- say, 1/4" pieces.
2.  Pack the minced chiles into hot, sterilized pint jars and add 2
teaspoons of kosher salt to the top of each pint.
3.  Cover chiles with boiling white vinegar.
4.  Place new sterilized lids on each pint and close with a ring.
5.  Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Nothing could be easier and more delicious.  I have saved these, at room
temperature, for two years.  As for preserving in oil, you need to be very
careful as oil creates an anaerobic environment without a low enough pH to
prevent the growth of botulism.  If you are determined to use oil, I would
make small quantities, store it in the fridge, and use it quickly.  You can
improve your shelf life by first drying the chiles and then crushing them.
Take the crushed chiles and any other flavors you would like to use
(fermented black beans, sesame oil, cumin seed, fenugreek, etc.) and heat
them to about 200-225 F in your oil for about 15 minutes or so.  I would
still store this in the fridge.

Good luck.

Matt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
T. Matthew Evans
Graduate Research Assistant
Geosystems Group, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
URL: www.prism.gatech.edu/~gte964w
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey All-

  I'm new to the list. I have an 8' X 16' garden full of peppers (yes, I'm
  one of you)- bananas, blocks, jalapenos, habaneros, cayennes, Thai hots-
  you get the picture. I'm hoping to pick up some good ideas for preserving
  the various peppers. What I'm especially interested in are ideas for the
  Thai hots- I only planted 4 of them, but they're quite prolific. Is there
a way to preserve them in oil?

  Rob