Trying 5 Spicy Chili Dishes From Around the World

Thanks to Mistplay for sponsoring this video! Use code BERYL50 and download the app for free here: http://mistplay.com/beryl. Code expires 1/31/24 . Limited quantities available. #mistplay #playandearn

Thank you so much to Pendhay, Mythili, Jessica & Emily, Bella & Khoud, and James for sharing your stories with us!

The artist behind me is Georgia Green ! Check out her work here: https://www.beryl.nyc/index.php/georgia-green/

Check out James’ chili crisp cookbook here: https://amzn.to/3RUf1om
And be sure to follow him on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesyworld/

Also @LisaNguyen I wanna know what you think of Jeow Bong please try it.

RECIPES
Ema Datshi: https://www.beryl.nyc/index.php/2023/12/28/ema-datshi/
Milagai Mandi: https://www.beryl.nyc/index.php/2023/12/28/milagai-mandi/
Espagueti Verde: https://www.beryl.nyc/index.php/2023/12/28/espagueti-verde/
Jeow Bong: https://www.beryl.nyc/index.php/2023/12/28/jeow-bong/
Dubu Jorim: https://www.beryl.nyc/index.php/2023/12/28/dubu-jorim/

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
02:24 Bhutanese Ema Datshi
05:07 Trying Ema Datshi
07:25 Indian Milagai Mandi
12:04 Trying Milagai Mandi
14:38 Lao Jeow Bong
20:06 Trying Jeow Bong
22:22 South Korean Dubu Jorim
26:05 Trying Dubu Jorim
28:01 Mexican Espagueti Verde
30:32 Trying Espagueti Verde

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Beryl Shereshewsky
115 East 34th Street FRNT 1
PO Box 1742
New York, NY 10156

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shereshe/
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/beryl

– Riddle me this. How did the chili, a plant that is arguably painful to eat, become so pervasive? The story starts with birds in Central and South America where the plant is native to. Are you talking about me? The spice in chilies comes from a compound called capsaicin,

Which was first discovered in 1816 by Christian Bucholz. I nailed it, right? Birds it turns out, unlike mammals, do not have capsaicin receptors. Hmm, I don’t taste any spice. Do you mammal? Bro, this is hot! Ah! So birds ate these chilies, flew around and distributed the seeds.

I’m pooping these out across Central and South America. When it came to why humans like chilies, scholars believe two things. I like the way they make me feel kind of tingly and it makes this typically unpleasant food taste a heck of a lot better. It wasn’t until the 16th century though

That chilies went worldwide being brought by the Portuguese across the globe. At the end of the day though, you can say it was really the chili that conquered the globe because today we are looking at five different chili dishes from five countries to see how far humans love for spice really goes.

While I am prepping all of these chilies for the recipes to come, I wanna thank MISTPLAY for sponsoring today’s episode. MISTPLAY is a platform that allows you to play some of your favorite games and earn points to them to collect gift cards. As many of you know I love playing mobile games,

Especially, while I’m waiting for all of these dishes to cook ’cause some of them take a really long time. The platform has tons of different mobile games to choose from. Everything from action and adventure, to puzzle, word games, even trivia, which I really love doing. As you play the games, you collect points.

You can then take those points and redeem them for gift cards across a variety of different companies. Through this app, I’ve actually been able to discover some new games that I had never heard of before that I’ve actually come to really love. One of them being a game called Playdoku.

It’s a puzzle game and you need to use some spatial awareness to figure out how to complete different boxes. The more you play, the more points you can collect and you can use those points to get gift cards. I’m already a huge mobile game player, so why not put my play time

Towards something beneficial to me? If you sign up today, you’ll get 200 points and if you use my code BERYL, it’ll give you an additional 50 points, which honestly will get you quite close to your first gift card for just signing up. The link is here,

But it is also in the description with all of the details. It’s time to eat some chilies now. – Hi, I’m Pendhay. I’m from Bhutan and the dish I’m gonna be talking about today is Ema Datshi which translates to literally chili cheese in Bhutan. Ema Datshi is so interesting because a mixture of chilies, cheese and few other vegetables and it’s a little bit brothy,

So it’s like a soup too and it’s so good poured over rice. I love it so much. – If you’re thinking, yeah okay, you know five jalapenos, but I want more chili. Yeah, there’s green chilies in this recipe as well. This is gonna be fun. I’m scared.

– [Pendhay] You come back home from a long day of work and you can make it in like what? 20 minutes to half an hour and it’s done. So simple and so easy to make. – The second you know that you can’t touch your eyes, all you wanna do is touch your eyes.

Don’t do it. – It tastes very warm for me. It’s a little spicy, also a little bit cheesy. It’s very comforting. It makes you feel very warm inside. This dish is very common in Bhutan. Each family have its own special way of making it.

You can make it different ways every time you make it and because of that, it can be found differently all over Bhutan and I think it’s such a beautiful thing. – This recipe is a real who’s-who and what’s-what of cooking terminology because we have slit the green chili,

Slice the onion, chop the garlic and dice the tomatoes. So you kind of need to know the difference between all of those and I do. – Everyone eats this. It’s the national dish of Bhutan. You can make it any time and that’s why I think it’s so beautiful.

I mean I say it has so many good memories for me because, as someone who’s living away from home right now, I can make it anytime I feel homesick. And then you can use any chili in this dish. You can use dried red chilies, whole green chilies. – [Beryl] (chuckles) I don’t know,

I probably shouldn’t use my hands for this, but too late. – Or you can even use small red chilies then it’ll be a little bit spicier. And depending on what type of chilies you use, it can be from not very spicy to really spicy. For example, if you use the small green chilies

Or as we call it GT ema back home which really means rat chili, it would be really spicy. But if you use something like whole green chilies or a chili a little bit milder in taste, it won’t be as spicy. But depending on what chili I could say it could range

Anywhere from about four to nine or 10 to the spiciness. Chilies are a big part of my culture. Back home, you can find chilies in almost every, every dish. To combat spice in my culture, like I say, we have to eat it with rice. Ema Datshi without a rice is a crime.

At least in my family, we do eat a lot of yogurt. I think that really helps. But other than that, I think we just got really used to the spice, I would say. People should try it because it’s I think something new. I think it’s very unique, to my culture at least.

And I think it’s so simple, yet so tasty and I think the fact that anyone can have access to the ingredients to make it is so beautiful. – I’m a little nervous. I’m just never like jalapeno to the face, you know. This is okay, but it’s like cheesy. I just, I’m not gonna eat like a full slice of jalapeno. Let’s be real. That’s so good. (giggles) It’s like a jalapeno popper soup. It’s spicy. Like there’s definitely heat in this, but the Amul cheese with the spicy jalapeno, whoa, I’m loving this. I am absolutely loving this and to think like five seconds ago I was so scared to eat this,

Which honestly might be one of my new favorite foods. This is so good. That green chili that I split up completely disintegrated into this. Like I thought, I was like, oh, it’s just there for flavor and you pull it out. But no, it’s gone. 10, I mean 10 out of 10, Bhutan.

This will be a really interesting episode to see how my spice tolerance has changed since I even like started this show. So I’m not sure like is this not that spicy or have I just like grown accustomed to spice? Like this whole jalapeno going in. That’s great.

Will you taste it and see if you think it’s really spicy? – [Camera Person] Yes. (laughs) – I just, I’m curious. – [Camera Person] I mean it’s spicy. – Do you want some yogurt? (laughs) – [Camera Person] No, I’m actually fine. I think. – I guess this is spicy, but honestly if you’re somebody who likes spice, I think like this is a treat. Pendhay was not lying, this was so quick to make. As long as you can find a jalapeno, all you need is like a melty, kind of salty cheese.

The Amul cheese that I used I found at the Indian grocery store. You can also find it in a lot of Middle Eastern markets. You could use a Kraft white cheddar cheese, that would be very similar. What a way to start the episode. I now feel like so ready for this,

But I feel like I’m also gonna get put in my place so. – Hi, Beryl. I’m Rachel Mythili from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and today I want to talk about a dish from the Chettinad part of Tamil Nadu called Milagai Mandi. My husband is from Cuddalore and I learned this dish from my mother-in-law who is a passionate cook herself.

Milagai means green chili and mandi means rice water. These two are the two main stars of the dish. It is a tamarind-based curry that goes exceptionally well with rice. Tamarind-based dishes are quite common in Tamil Nadu because they prohibit the growth of bacteria in food for a longer time,

Allowing you to enjoy the dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. – I’m confused because it’s not saying how to like chop the shallots and garlic and chilies. Hmm, you don’t. (chuckles) Oh, my god. This is all just going in whole. (lips pop) India did not come to play. They came to win. Look at this. Oh, my god, just whole. – [Rachel] I understand if you feel startled at how this dish requires 20 chilies.

However, this dish is not that spicy at all. It brings out the flavors of green chili beautifully and the tamarind mellows down the heat of the dish. The key is to roast the green chili till the outer skin becomes light brown. – God, help us all.

And this is the meal right here, these three babies, hm. – [Rachel] In fact, this step helps reduce the heat and enhances the flavor of the dish. – We have to peel a tomato and I learned the hard way through internet comments

That you don’t use a peeler, so we’re just gonna cut a hatch and boil it and that’s how you peel a tomato. – I love Milagai Mandi because it is easy to make and requires few ingredients. It also has a earthy flavor and it reminds me of home.

Milagai Mandi is not that known to those outside the Chettinad region and its neighboring cities, but it is an ancient and traditional recipe. India contributes to 43% of the world’s chili production and exports 1.9 million tons every year making us the largest producer of chilies in the world.

I enjoy this dish with a bowl of hot rice every time I at my in-laws’ place. It never disappoints me. The chili we use in this dish is the serrano peppers. On a scale of one to 10, one being mild and 10 being too hot,

I’d rate the spice level of this dish a six. As a Tamilian, I cannot imagine cooking a dish without green chili. Sometimes it’s for the heat, but most of the time it is to enhance the overall flavor of a meal. I have a box of green chilies in my fridge all the time,

Ready to be used in whatever dish I’m cooking. While Milagai Mandi is not hot, should you feel the heat, just add rice to a plate, add a little of Milagai Mandi and add a dollop of ghee on top of it. Mix them all together and enjoy. Chilies are the star of this dish.

Without them you’d still have a tamarind curry, but without the chilies it’s no good. – This is wild. This is a wild recipe. What am I making? I think I burnt the seeds a little bit, but that’ll just give me another flavor other than absolute spice. – It is important not to skimp the quantity of green chilies. – Woo! Ah! (laughs) Oh, my god.

Oh my god, oh my god. (laughs) Oh, this looks pretty, though. (giggles) Wow. Oh, my god. (coughs) So much chili in the air. Need a fan. Ah! (coughs) Oh my god. When you are cooking this dish, open a window. Turn on a fan. Oh, my god. – [Rachel] I recommend all of you to try this dish because Indian cuisine isn’t just about Butter chicken, Tikka masala, dosas, rotis or buryanis. We have a rich and diverse culture

That dates back to 11,000 years. I hope you all get to experience the scintillating flavors of Chettinad and Tamil cuisine with this Milagai Mandi. Thank you. – Like this is intimidating. I’m intimidated, I, whew, okay. Let’s take like little smaller piece of the chili. There’s also a full clove of garlic. (snickers)

Who wants to make out after? Okay, Hot. (coughs) Um, I will say that the tamarind with the heat is actually really nice. There is like a sweet, sour, earthy balance. The shallot is super soft, has a little bit of sweetness and the thickness of the gravy just kind of coats everything in this silky, sour-sweet flavor.

I’m gonna go for a garlic clove. Oh my god, it’s so soft. Um. It’s so delicious and creamy and has like a buttery texture to it. This dish is hot. It is a hot, hot, hot. Eating that chili is hot. Oh, my god. I’m sweating. Oh! Yes this is spicy,

But there’s also a lot of things going on to counteract it. So like my mouth is definitely tingling and you’re getting that like burn of heat, but this tamarind sauce is doing a lot to counteract it. The ghee and the warm rice are also doing a lot.

The rice water that you soak the tamarind in, you can either use rice water or you can just mix rice flour in with water, which is what I did for like the instant version. I learned about that online. Cooking this, definitely, had an effect on us in the kitchen.

Like when everything was being fried everything was fine. But then once the liquid started going in and releasing like all of the oils from everything, it became so hard to breathe in that kitchen. (coughing) Literally my ears are ringing and popping. Like what just happened in here? Definitely, have a window open.

Have a fan going, like I was coughing. I needed a moment. It was a lot. At the end of the day, this is definitely a chili dish. Like everything feels like it’s alive. It’s still within the realm for me of enjoyable and that’s just super cool

Because when you can enjoy the flavor of spice and not just feel overwhelmed by it, it opens up a lot of cuisines and cultures around the world. Look at me just eating chilies. Who is she? – My name is Khoud. I’m from Phonsavan, Xiangkhouang Province in Laos. I moved to Vientiane capital in 2004. – Hi, my name is Bella. I’m originally from Germany but I came to Laos for the first time in 2016 and moved here permanently earlier this year.

– The dish we want to talk about is Jeow Bong. Lao people love our dips. Jeow Bong is one kind of dip that the Lao people like in Laos. Jeow mean dip, bong mean pickle. – [Bella] Jeow Bong is simple, but it packs a punch and you will find different varieties across Laos.

Generally, it always has a few key ingredients which are sun-dried chilies, garlic and shallots. What makes it special in Xiangkhouang, where Khoud is from, is water buffalo skin dried and pickled bamboo. – [Khoud] I like Jeow Bong because it’s simple, it’s spicy, salty and perfect with sticky rice and vegetable.

– [Bella] It’s so versatile, you can really add it to whatever dish that you’re making and it’ll elevate it right away. – I have two types of chilies. I have like a dried Thai red chili and then a guajillo chili. These I think are spicier than these,

But they’re both obviously full of seeds. I’m gonna empty out some seeds so that the chili paste is not like so spicy, but we’re obviously gonna leave some in. But just a few are gonna go to the compost bin. – [Bella] Sharing food is an important part of Lao culture

And whether it’s for a simple office lunch or for a special occasion, you’ll always find big portions of sticky rice, big portions of meat and a large portion of Jeow Bong that pairs perfectly with that. So everyone knows what Jeow Bong is.

– [Khoud] My brother love it so much, he will skip any lunch and go with sticky rice and vegetable. – I feel like I need to psych myself up for this because it is going to become really hard to breathe in here. I’m intimidated. (blowing through lips) Huh! I can do it.

I gotta get the fan going. Okay, fan, fan. Okay, we’re gonna start with the ginger. – [Khoud] The dish remind me about my grandmom. She loved to cook it a lot for the grandchild. During the Second Indochina War, she and her family need to hide in the camp during the bombing. They survived, they eat Jeow Bong almost every day

Because it’s a simple ingredient to cook and make it and it lasts long. – [Bella] You can either use Thai dried chili peppers, the long ones or the short ones, or you can use guajillo peppers or another large pepper variety if you like it a bit milder. That’s the beauty of Jeow Bong,

You can make it totally yours as you like. Thai red chili peppers are hot. On a scale of one to 10 of how we would grade it, it would probably be six or seven. – [Beryl] Oh god. Fan! I’m breathing through a wet towel. Oh, these are almost ready. Oh my god, thank God this was quick. Oh, my god. Okay, – [Bella] But you might not wanna trust us ’cause we like our food spicy. We’ve grown up with spicy food

Or at least Khoud has, so it might be a bit spicy for you. – [Khoud] Every single dish we do chili, it’s significant in Lao cuisine. So that why that most family grow chili at their house, including my family as well. – Oh my God, my poor plant

Got so burned from all of that frying. Oh, baby! – [Khoud] To cool down the spiciness of the dish we added sweet rice, vegetable, long bean, cucumber. – It was just really annoying up on the counter. I have better leverage down here. Look, it’s perfect now. Cooking on the floor.

You think I’m professional, but you probably don’t think I’m professional. – In Laos Jeow Bong is a dipping sauce or a condiment. It’s super versatile. You can really add into anything. Our favorite way to eat it is with sticky rice. You simply grab your sticky rice in between your fingers,

Make it into a small bowl, dip it in the sauce and enjoy. Everyone always talks about Thai food, about Vietnamese food, but they forget about their small landlocked neighbor. Lao food deserves more attention. – [Khoud] Lao cuisine have many offer in flavors; sweet, salty, spicy and it is on (indistinct).

If you like spicy food, Jeow Bong is for you. – It has a lovely and strong heat and it’ll add a great kick to all of your meals. – [Bella] Come eat with us. – This little paste pretty much killed me while making it. You need like a hazmat suit when you’re doing this. Like I felt the burn deep within parts of my body that I never even knew existed. Like my bones were rattling.

Oh my god, (coughs) it burns, it burns. Okay, we need to leave this room for a bit and I’m not even being dramatic about this. Only a little dramatic. (laughs) Whoa! I think I’m nervous because I think this one is gonna be really hot and like I’m just having it with rice, uh.

Maybe a little more rice. I need an adult. I need yogurt. I need more rice. Holy, that is hot. I’m calling this one an like a eight or a nine out of 10. Like I’m talking through this, so maybe I’d have to call it an eight out of 10. There is definitely smokiness in this, which is great.

Like there’s a little bit of flavor that I’m getting. It’s good to start like right now I’m like, mm, I’m getting like some sweetness from the palm sugar. I’m getting the smokiness. I’m getting things and then once you swallow it, hell breaks loose in your body. (exhales) Oh, mom. I want my mom.

Rice is not doing what it’s meant to do right now. (hiccups) Oh god, here it goes. (laughs) We got some yogurt here. If you are somebody who really likes hot, spicy things, like I’m thinking about my friend Lisa, I’m gonna tag her in this video.

Like I do acknowledge that there are good flavors in this, like for sure, and I’m gonna figure out a way to use it. But for me, maybe it’s just like not with only rice. Maybe it needs to be used with a few other things. (exhales) I’m gonna need ice pops tonight. – Hi, my name is James. I currently live in New York City in America, but I was originally born in South Korea. So the dish that I wanna talk to you about today is Dubu Jorim, so called braised tofu in English. What I love about this dish is that it has

That like super, savory spicy brazing sauce, but the tofu absorb all the deliciousness and it gets slightly crispy on the pan and it’s just a perfect thing to eat with a side of rice. It really gives you a different perspective of what tofu dishes can be. It’s so delightfully spicy

Because of all the different pepper flakes and pepper paste, but it’s just right amount of spice and when you’re eating it with a warm bed of rice, you’re just in heaven. One of the main ingredients for Dubu Jorim is chili crisp. – I’m really hoping today that making this chili crisp

Is not gonna be a repeat of Laos and India, actually. I’m hoping it’s just gonna be a lot calmer. This smells so good, but the chilies are up next. Let’s see, hm. – Multiple chili products are used into this dish. One is gochugaru, which is Korean red pepper flakes.

That’s not super spicy. It’s a little bit fruity. The second are Szechuan pepper flakes because chili crisp is originally a Chinese condiment and the last chili pepper flakes I use is Aleppo pepper. Aleppo pepper is a type of a Middle Eastern spice. – [Beryl] My God, there’s so much going into this.

Holy smokes. – [James] I think the blend of these three create a perfect balance of a heat and a flavor and the color as well. – Oh, thank God. Whew! Hold up, oh boy. Yay. – The other chili products that are used in Dubu Jorim is gochujang. So gochujang is a fermented spicy paste, so that definitely adds a little bit of the earthy, fermented taste to this dish that’s so delightful.

This dish is not super spicy at all. I will say it’s somewhere between three. As a part of Korean culture, we use a lot of chili pepper flakes on chili pepper paste. Anything that you see spicy in Korean cuisine, uses either or both. Whenever I use those products into different cooking,

It instantly makes it taste Korean to me. I think, to me, this feels like a part of the homecooking more than anything. I never thought that chili crisp would mean so much to me and chili crisp was just a perfect tool for me to express myself

And share my story as a Korean immigrant here. – [Beryl] Now we wait. – And this is also very, very important to serve with rice. You can eat it as it is, but just when you are letting the sauce of that tofu soak into that rice and you crumble a little bit of the tofu with rice

To create the perfect bite of heaven. I think a lot of people should try this dish because it’s so simple, yet so flavorful. And if you’ve never had a tofu dish that you fell in love, I think this will be the one. – I have never made my own chili crisp before and like that was invigorating and not painful, which is the best thing of them all. This tofu dish is like, oh, it looks really good. I did a whole tofu episode, but this like seems extravagant. Excuse me. This dish is making me feel things, like really good things. It’s definitely spicy. I don’t think it’s too spicy, although the Szechuan tingly, numbing effect that kind of makes your mouth feel alive or dead depending on how you process that feeling. The tofu is so flavorful.

My god, I didn’t know that tofu could do this type of stuff. Naughty. Chili crisp is obviously having a moment. I love how this is like the confluence of different cultures on this one plate and I feel like I’ve never really cooked with chili crisp.

I’ve always just like put a little bit on top to add a little bit of spice and crunch. Using it in the recipe like this, like I feel like it’s just opened up a lot of doors and not to like plug it, but you know like James did it

And like this cookbook is amazing and just really fun. Buy his cookbook. Oh god, I can’t even, I’m not good at Vanna White-ing. Wait, how do you? There are tons of really amazing recipes. I’m obviously gonna leave a link in the description to where you can get his cookbook. So if you are somebody who likes tofu, ha-ha, but like you can also do this type of recipe with chicken and that would be amazing.

I’m like really impressed and I have, let me show you how much chili crisp I have. My immediate family is only getting chili crisp for Christmas now. Love this dish. Loved it. Just loved it. – Hi, Beryl. My name is Jessica. – And my name is Emily. – And we live in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The dish I want to talk to you about today is called poblano pasta. Poblano pasta is a simple, yet very tasty dish. – I haven’t done this since the eggplant episode

And I’m hoping that I have better success in roasting this than I did with some of the eggplants. – [Jessica] The star of this dish is definitely the roasted poblano peppers. – It’s blistering. Nobody usually says it’s blistering with glee, but in this case it’s warranted.

– [Jessica] That you blend in with Mexican crema, chicken bullion, to form this beautiful green creamy sauce that will then go over your pasta. The flavor of this dish is smoky because of the roasted poblano peppers. – It’s so crazy. It kind of like, I feel like this looks like dragon skin,

Although I have been reading a lot of books about dragons lately, so something’s on my mind, clearly. (snickers) Is that dragon skin? I don’t know. I just feel like it is. – And can be spicy depending on how many peppers you put in it. This is a popular Mexican dish for special celebrations

Such as birthdays, graduation parties, Christmas, New Year’s or simply just family get togethers. I remember the first time I tried this dish was at a Christmas party. – I think it needs like, I don’t think it’s like smooth enough yet. – With my then boyfriend, now husband’s family and his mom made it for us and ever since then it’s been a staple at my house. I think people should try this dish because it is an easy Mexican dish to make, but a very delicious one, nonetheless.

I hope you enjoy it and (speaking in foreign language). – [Both] Adios. – After this I would say that I’ve mastered the art of roasting things on my stove top. I don’t feel like I’ve eaten too many poblanos in my life. – Mm, whoa! That’s like creamy and comforting. Kind of like a spicy pesto vibe, but maybe that’s just ’cause it’s green. It definitely doesn’t taste like pesto. Of all the recipes that I made, this one was definitely the fastest and I feel like thinking about the fact that it’s a homemade sauce for a pasta,

It’s taking what can be like a really easy meal to cook for like yourself or your family, but then like having a homemade sauce to it, that’s like, it’s nice, it elevates that a little bit. Spice level, I think this might be the mildest of them all. But there’s a little,

There’s like a little something in here you know. If you can’t find the crema that Jessica recommended, you can use Greek yogurt in this and that will get you like pretty much there. It’s just there to add like creaminess and like a little bit of tanginess. This episode was super fun to make.

I’m just gonna quickly go through the five dishes and give you a ranking of spice level from the most mild to the spiciest. So the most mild, I would say, is the Mexican poblano pasta. One step up from that is gonna be the chili crisp that I had in the braised tofu.

A step up from that is the Ema Datshi from Bhutan. Then we’re gonna have the Indian dish and like obviously the spiciest to me was the Laotian chili paste because I’m still recovering. All of the recipes are linked in my description. They’re all on my website along with tons of other recipes

From the show that you should definitely check out. Until next week, here are two more episodes from our show to fit the theme, if you’ve never seen them. Garlic and ice cream, that might help you out with all the spicy foods that we ate today. We’ll see you all next week.