Pilipili

Pilipili. Peri peri. Berbere. Chiles. Chillies. Peppers.

We love it, the health benefits are plenty, and so I share in this post the different kinds I have in my kitchen.

First off, the Ethiopian berbere.  It is a blend of paprika, fenugreek, garlic and ginger among other spices.  Berbere is so flavourful and makes cooking the red Ethiopian beef stew (keywot) so easy.  Simply sauté onions and garlic. Add the berbere and water and cook for some minutes.  Then add the beef and beef stock and cook until it is done!

The other kind I have are dried chillies. These pack quite a bit of heat. I put them in a grinder with whole black peppercorns. Great for seasoning.

The kind below is most easily available here in Kenya. Slice the finger chillies (cayenne?) and submerge in olive oil. After a few days the oil is infused with the heat. A tip I got from a friend was to leave the jars in the sun for a few days.  These are the hottest of the 5 different peppers listed in this post.

The pilipili as well as the oil are great on pizza as well as for general drizzling over food.

Growing up, mum made her own homemade chili sauce. I attempted this for the first time recently because I fell in love with the peppers from Malawi called “kambuzi”.  In Nairobi, you can find “pilipili mbuzi” which is much bigger but it has a similar smell. And oh, what a distinct amazing aroma.

It can be sweetened by adding passion fruit or mango.  Or bulked up with grated carrots or pawpaw (papaya) if the heat is too much.

Hot Chilli Sauce

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients

• a handful of pilipili mbuzi (or any type of chillies you get, you could even mix different types)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 grated carrots (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 and a half heads of fresh garlic

Directions

Blend the peppers with lemon juice and salt. If you don’t have a blender, cut the chillies into really small pieces. Mix with the lemon juice and salt. Leave to sit for some time.

Crush or cut the garlic into very small pieces.

Pour 1 cup of oil in a pot or pan. Fry garlic on low heat until golden. Add the chillies to the oil and stir. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes. (Notice they are still a bright red.)

Add the grated carrots and paprika and continue to cook on low heat for another 5 to 10 minutes.

The chillies need to cook properly to prevent spoilage. They are done when they turn a dark red.

Taste and adjust salt or acid to your liking. Perhaps even a tablespoon of sugar for balance.

Leave to cool. Store in sterilized jars.

And finally we have in the fridge the pickled bullet peppers (which I believe are jalapeño peppers).  They are the ones pictured on the right.