Curry is no way an English invention, no matter what cretin insists it’s so. Especially if he’s coming from a land where the cuisine is notoriously bland. How else can you explain them confusing a simple dipping sauce for a chemical attack?

That’s got to be some damn good chili when a hazmat team seals off your street.

Which reminds me of a time when a former tenant, an English woman, called up my mother to complain of a strange chemical or gas smell coming out of our kitchen. My mother was cooking Chinese food.

So, do you want to spark your own ‘terror alert’ incident? The recipe is included in the article right here.

[originally published on LiveJournal]

Nam prik pao

4 tbsp oil; 3 tbsp chopped garlic; 3 tbsp chopped shallots; 3 tbsp chopped dried red chillies; 1 tbsp fermented shrimp paste; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 2 tsp palm sugar

Heat the oil, add the garlic and shallots and fry briefly. Remove from oil and set aside. Add chillies and fry until they start to change colour. Remove and set aside. In a pestle and mortar, pound the shrimp paste, add the chillies, garlic and shallots. Over a low heat return all the ingredients to the oil, and fold into a uniform paste. The resulting thick, slightly oily red/black sauce will keep almost indefinitely. If you wish you can add more fish sauce and/or sugar to get the flavour you want.