You can credit Thai peppers for the intensity if you enjoy highly-spiced Thai cuisine. Additionally, South India, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian countries’ cuisines use Thai pepper.
The following article provides information on cultivating Thai peppers for those who want a little additional zing to our food.
How Hot Are Thai Peppers?
The Thai pepper plant produces spicy peppers, but they are hotter than jalapenos or serranos.
Take into account their Scoville rating of 50,000 to 100,000 heat units to fully savor their hot flavors! Like all spicy peppers, Thai chili peppers contain capsaicin, which gives them scorching heat and can cause the skin to burn for up to 12 hours.
Growing Thai Peppers
The plant loves heat and humidity, and it requires a long growing season of between 100 and 130 days when it is growing.
Start your chili pepper plants indoors eight weeks before the last frost in your area if you live in a region with a short growing season.
Just below a well-draining seed starting medium, plant the seeds of the Thai chili pepper. Keep the seeds warm (between 80 and 85 °F) and wet (27-29 C.).
The temperature can be kept steady with a heat mat. To ensure that the seeds receive the lightest possible, place them in a window that faces south or southwest or add artificial lighting.
The seedlings should be hardened off over a week before being transplanted once there is no longer any threat of frost in your location and the soil temperature is at least 50 F (10 C).
Choose a location that receives full sun, has rich, well-draining soil with a pH range of 5.5 to 7.0, and has never before been home to plants belonging to the Solanum genus.
Thai Peppers Recipes
Fusion cuisine may have more recently morphed into mashups, but if we’re honest, incorporating the signature flavors of foreign cuisines is the American culinary way.
Where would we be today without a crazy quilt of cheesy pizzas, Tex-Mex tacos, and Asian stir-fries, let alone sesame-crusted tuna and wasabi mashed potatoes?
The Stars Thai Pork and Cucumber borrows a few essential flavors of Thai cuisine and gives the nod to popular culture by presenting them in a skillet stir-fry/salad combo.
Lean pork loin is sauteed and served with a salad of cucumbers, red peppers, and romaine lettuce or bok choy lightly dressed with the tang of low-sodium soy sauce, garlic, and lime juice.
A minced chili pepper adds a flash of heat, and the entire dish is finished with a dash of cilantro.
Cooking tip: Thai chilies, also known as birds-eye chilies, may measure just 1 to 2 inches long, but they can pack a fiery punch that is not lessened with cooking.
Pepperscale.com rates Thai peppers as six to 40 times hotter than a jalapeno. It’s a good rule to use gloves when working with chilies to avoid skin irritations.
Cucumber can be seeded by cutting it in half lengthwise and scooping down the center.
THAI PORK AND CUCUMBER
Equipment
- small bowl, large nonstick skillet, deep serving platter,
Ingredients
- 1 piece cucumber, not peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced 1/2-inch thick
- 1/2 piece red medium bell pepper, cut into thin strips
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 piece red or green hot Thai chili pepper or serrano pepper, seeded and minced
- 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- Pepper, to taste
- 2 tsp canola or vegetable oil, divided
- 1 boneless pork loin, divided into very thin strips, about 2-by-1/8-inch
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cup thinly sliced romaine or bok choy
- 4 cup thinly sliced romaine or bok choy
- 2 tbsp minced cilantro
Instructions
- 1 Place cucumber and red bell pepper strips in a small bowl.
- 2 Combine lime juice, minced chili, soy sauce and pepper in a small bowl.
- 3 Melt 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
- 4 Add meat and cook, stirring frequently, until meat is browned, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- 5 Stir in garlic and cook 30 seconds
- 6 Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the lime juice mixture and cook, stirring frequently, about 30 seconds or until meat is fully cooked.
- 7 Place romaine or bok choy in a deep serving platter
- 8 Spoon cucumber mixture, with any collected liquid, over greens.
- 9 Top with cooked pork.
- 10 Whisk remaining 1 teaspoon oil into remaining lime juice mixture
- 11 Drizzle mixture over meat and cucumbers
- Garnish with cilantro.
THAI PORK BURRITOS
Equipment
- large nonstick skillet, blender
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground pork
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
- 1 garlic clove peeled and crushed
- 1 small onion thinly sliced
- 2 cups cole slaw mixed with carrots
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper or 2 fresh Thai peppers add more if you prefer hotter
- 4 large 10-inch flour tortillas, warmed
- Fresh cilantro chopped (garnish)
Instructions
- A sizable nonstick skillet with high heat is used to heat the oil.
- After adding the pork, cook for 3-4 minutes, crumble and stir.
- Ginger, garlic, onion, and cole slaw should be added
- Stir-fry vegetables for 2 minutes with pork until wilted.
- All remaining ingredients except tortillas and cilantro should be combined in a small bowl and added to the skillet.
- Blend all ingredients well for one minute by stirring constantly.
- Place equal portions of the mixture on warm flour tortillas,
- garnish with cilantro,
- roll up to encase filling and serve.
