Using chili peppers in my recipes

It is a challenge to indicate exactly how much chili pepper to use in the recipes in this book. It depends on the type of pepper and personal preference. Often I add a slice or two of a chili pepper to a stew or soup and taste the stew as it cooks, removing the slice if the stew seems to be getting too hot. Sometimes I simply slice off the end and cook the pepper whole in a soup. Once cooked, the pepper can be gently squeezed with a spoon (in the soup to avoid squirting one’s eyes) and the heat can be gradually released into the soup; or it can be sliced and served alongside the soup or stew, allowing diners who wish more heat to help themselves. I often combine both fresh and dried chili peppers. Sometimes part of a chili pepper can be blended with tomatoes or other spices like garlic or ginger before adding to the soup or stew. Much of the heat in the chili peppers is contained in the seeds and inner membranes, so one way to reduce the heat is to deseed and cut out the membranes.