What is your favorite spicy dish?

[Mr_Dove]

My favorite is a dish served in Bolivia called "pique a lo macho". My memory might be a little bit fuzzy. I seem to recall that it is supposed to have some steak chunks in it in addition to what I use.

Start with a bed of fries (I use steak fries)

top this with:
kielbasa type sausage browned and sliced in 1/2" pieces
fresh tomato wedges
fresh yellow or white onion
tender chunks of lean stew meat (i usually omit this for simplicity)
LOTS and LOTS of jalapeno slices (adjust to taste)

I usually slice up 1-2 whole jalepenos (seeds and all) for each portion of the dish. 1 slice per bite is ideal. I generally put some ketchup on top but traditionally is gets a fair bit of sauce from browning the beef.

 

[Wyogal]

Kung pao/Schezwan shrimp/chicken

 

[Robo410]

either a Thai green curry or Algerian Couscous with lots of harisa.

 

[GrillingFool]

Gosh, I can't decide.
I think my spicy Asian catfish.
But chop up some jalapenos, cayennes or bird peppers and I'm happy!

 

[gumbotc]

crawfish or shrimp sauce piquant or thai red curry

 

[BreezyCooking]

Oh goodness - as a long-time hard-core spicy foodlover, this is definitely a completely impossible question.

Anything Szechuan.
Anything spicy Mexican.
Most spicy Thai dishes that aren't overly inundated with coconut milk.
Anything spicy Italian - particularly a good spicy Calamari over Linguini.
Great spicy chicken wings - Buffalo style, Asian style, whatever.

Really, the list is literally endless in my case. No way could I EVER just single out one favorite.

 

[larry_stewart]

Hot and Sour soup

 

[GrillingFool]

Hel Larry, you got a good recipe for Hot and Sour?
I had one that used vinegar and pepper for the hot, but lost it.

 

[BreezyCooking]

If you don't mind me butting in GF, here's our favorite H&S soup that I developed after lots of enjoyable "testing", lol:

BREEZY PEKING HOT & SOUR SOUP
(adapted from Madame Chu’s Chinese Cooking School)

One boneless skinless chicken breast
½ cup (3-4 caps) dried Chinese black mushrooms (or dried shitake mushrooms)
12 dried tiger-lily buds (aka “Golden Needles”)
1 tablespoon dried cloud ear mushrooms (aka “wood ear” mushrooms)
1 cake fresh firm or extra-firm bean curd (tofu)
1 egg
5 cups chicken broth
1 small can shredded bamboo shoots, drained
½ teaspoon sugar
2 tablesoons soy sauce
Approx. 3 tablespoons white vinegar (or to taste)
Approx. 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
2-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of cold water
1 tablespoon sesame oil or hot (aka chili) sesame oil
Chopped fresh scallions for garnish - optional

Cut the chicken into shreds.
Soak mushrooms, cloud ears, & tiger-lily buds in 1-2 cups of hot water for 20-30 minutes, changing hot water every 10 minutes or so. Drain & rinse well. De-stem & slice the mushrooms & cloud ears; tie each tiger lily bud into a knot (for easier eating).
Cut bean curd into cubes.
Beat the egg thoroughly.

Heat broth in a pot large enough to hold all ingredients until boiling. Add chicken strips & mix a few times. Bring back to a low boil & add bean curd, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, cloud ears, & lily buds. Add sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, & black pepper. Boil for 2 minutes & then add –first stirring to recombine – cornstarch/water mixture. Stir & then pour in beaten egg. Turn off heat & stir again, then sprinkle sesame oil on top & taste for seasoning, adding in additional vinegar &/or pepper to taste if necessary. Serve.

**If I have it around (which I usually do), sometimes I'll add the chopped leaves from one or two stalks of bok choy to add a little color.

 

[larry_stewart]

Without exageration, i have been looking for a recipe that duplicates what i get at these chinese restaurants i go to ( Empire szechuan ,ST. James NY and Kingdom of Vegetarians Restaurant of philadelphia) for the past 20 + years and havnt been lucky yet,

I know all the obvious ingredients bamboo shoots, carrots, snow peas(all julienned ) , tofu, tree ear fungus, thinly sliced shitake mushrooms, sliced canned button mushrooms. Also a little sesame oil, and i can see some kind of red pepper flake as the heating agent.

It is the broth/ liquid ingredients that are getting me.
There is obviuosly a broth ( it is a vegetarian soup, so im not sure what they are using as their soup base, and believe me, ive tried everything) IT is brown, so im assuming there is some kind of soy sauce or something of that nature in it . Definitely some kind of vinegar, but not sure exactly which ( ive tried white, and rice, and black, all of which didnt taste right)

And i assume corn starch as a thickener.

Anyway, Ive messed around with many different broths and vinegars. The end result has always been something that resembles hot and sour soup, but not the same ( or even close ) to what ive been getting at this restaurant. Each month i order 3 or 4 quarts of it which me , and my kids finish in about 1 1/2 days). They actually refer to me as Mr Hot and Sour soup at the restaurant. Ive been tempted just to pay them a sum of money just to get the recipe , but then they would lose their best customer..

 

[spork]

That looks really good, Breezy. I, too, like hot & sour soup; I've been known to turn a package of instant ramen into one. As for my favorite spicy dish, that's an impossible question, so I'm trying to think of ANY spicy dish that's NOT on my favorites list...

I especially like spicy dishes that, not only fire the tongue, but seem to soak into it. Like Chinese dishes from the Hunan province. I'm also a glutton for Chinese ma pao dofu. I've seen it spelled other ways and pao is pronounced more like "bou", and you have to specially ask the kitchen for it at most restaurants in my state. It's a simple spicy sauce of tofu and ground/shredded pork served with rice.

... there's one that is NOT on my list. The spiciest dish I've ever had was at a curry cafe in Tokyo. The stupid menu was a choice of shrimp or beef, the numbers 1 through 7, and a short list of beverages. Confidently, I chose number 7. After two bites, my tongue felt like it was literally blistering from ingesting sulfuric acid. Every subsequent order from their beverage list only intensified the pain. I suffered through just half my plate. It wasn't a gimmick, or extreme cuisine, it was just a lawsuit in-waiting.

Spicy should have depth and complexity, like pairing it with sour.

 

[Clienta]

My favorite spicy dish is a Sunday soup served at a little neighborhood place in Isla Mujeres, MX called La Bruja. It is a seafood soup with clams, conch, shrimp, grouper, octopus, lobster & crab in a spicy red broth. If only they had crusty bread to soup up all the yummy flavors, they only have fresh corn tortillas. It is spicy & delicious. After having this fish soup, I am now disappointed with all bouillabaisses or fish stews. It is messy & a lot of work (all the shellfish is in the shell) but it is my absolute favorite. I wish it was served every day!

 

[apple*tart]

Out? Indian food.
In? Chipotle-crusted pork tenderloin.
Yum.

 

[lettuce]

I like Indian curry dishes, so good.

 

[babetoo]

like a bit of spice but not to the burning stage. all i can think of is corn salsa.

i use some in cooking but must consider tastes of family. only my son and his wife. like hot.

i bought some hot chili and almost killed myself