The Insider website has compiled a list of the 11 spiciest foods in the world, and Jamaica’s Jerk Chicken is first on the list. The foods on the list range from soups to meats and vegetarian dishes. See below for descriptions of the 11 spiciest foods in the world.
Jamaica’s jerk chicken combines sweet, tangy and spicy flavors of its key ingredients: scotch bonnet peppers, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, thyme and garlic.
Korea’s kimchi jjigae is made from green onions, garlic, tofu, mushrooms, and a bunch of red chilies. The key to this dish is in the technique, which requires the ingredients to be simmered slowly into a stew until the broth is infused with spiciness. This version of kimchi is served boiling hot in temperature as well.
Thai pepper steak, known as nueue pad prik, is simple and spicy, and it is a staple of Thai cuisine. Seasonings include shallots, basil, and garlic, which are cooked with beef and bird’s-eye chilies. These chilies rank between 100,000 and 225,000 Scoville heat units, which is really hot.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, otak-otak is the thing to try. The name translates to “brain”, which refers to the appearance of the dish rather than to its ingredients. Otak-otak is a grilled seafood cake made of tapioca starch, ground fish and spices, wrapped in a banana leaf. The spices include belacan and galangal, a root similar to ginger in look, but with a taste like pepper. It also includes some of the region’s hottest peppers.
When in Peru, Papa a la Huancaina offers a spicy treat. Served cold, the dish resembles a hard-boiled Eggs Benedict with potatoes, with the hollandaise replaces with a yellow cheese sauce made with habanero peppers and aji Amarillo, which makes it yellow.
Phaal curry originated among the Indian restaurants in Birmingham, England. The chefs in the area decided to add spicy peppers to the typical curry. The ingredients include tomato, ginger, and sometimes fennel seeds. One of the hottest and most famous of the phaal curries can be found at the Brick Lane Curry House restaurant in New York ?City, which uses ten kinds of peppers, including ghost peppers, habaneros, and scotch bonnets.
Sichuan hot pot in China has been called one of the hottest dishes in the world. It includes garlic, onions, and Sichuan peppers mixed with meat, vegetables, mushrooms and a wide variety of optional ingredients, including pig’s brain and duck blood.
Thailand’s sour and spicy soup known as Tom Yum is similar to neua pad prik, but includes lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, galangal, and fish sauce in addition to the bird’s-eye peppers. It can contain meats or seafood – tom yum goong is made with prawns, while tom yum gai is made with chicken. The color of the broth, which ranges from orange to red, gives diners an indication of the heat level.
Rivaling phaal in spiciness is India’s vindaloo pork, which is also a curry. The dish is adapted from a Portuguese pork specialty involving red wine, peppers, and garlic. In India, palm vinegar replaces the wine, and spicier red peppers are added. The heat depends on the amount of peppers used. It was traditionally made with Kashmiri, but now the ghost pepper is most often used.
Ethiopia’s wat is a stew of curry made with beef, lamb, chicken, vegetables, spices and clarified butter. The preparation of wat starts with chopped onions slowly cooked with no fat or oil in a dry skillet. Then they are sautéed in fat to allow the onions to thicken the stew. Usually eaten on a type of spongy flatbread made of teff, its spiciness comes from seasoned butter and berbere, a spice mix made of chilies, garlic, ginger, basil, korarima, rue, ajwain or radhuni, nigella, and fenugreek.
Wiggum chili was originally made by a police chief in America as a chili cook-off entry. The key ingredients in this dish are peppers from Quetzlzacatenango, which are grown in the Guatemalan jungle by inmates of an insane asylum. The chilies are so hot that they are said to have made some diners hallucinate. They may also have resulted in the temporary disappearance of a diner who wandered off under their influence. Sample with care.
Source: Insider , 123rf
