In the name of Allah, the Compassionate Source of All Mercy
The Pepper:
Friend or Foe?
Have you ever sat in front of someone who was served a dish of
peppers? There they sat, in their multi-hued glory. Red, golden,
orange, and green. Shiny and smelling delicious. You were almost
lured into taking some onto your plate. "No!" Screamed a voice
in your head as you recalled the last time you ate a pepper. Eyes tearing,
nose flaring, mouth on fire. "No, thank you," you said aloud and
fancied the peppers from afar.
Ahh... The memory of
peppers is quite strong, but fear not. Read on, and you will discover that
pepper can be our friend. Peppers are part of
the Capsicum family. They come in many varieties. There are hot peppers,
sweet peppers, mild peppers and really, really hot peppers. The key is
knowing which is which and how to utilize them.
by Samina Baig
"Hi, there! Get ta know us."
Regarding hot
peppers, the tear and "mouth-on-fire" factor is
something which
stirs people away from them. There is a solution, however. It's quite
simple. Hot peppers, like sweet peppers, can be roasted. What's that you
ask? Well, there are two methods of roasting a pepper.
One is on the
stovetop. Thoroughly wash the outside of the pepper. Take the whole pepper
and put it onto a stove which has a small flame burning. Keep watch over
the pepper and turn it with tongs once the side which is facing the flame
is charred black. Keep turning until the entire pepper is charred. Take
out a large glass bowl. Place the pepper inside and cover the mouth of the
bowl with a plastic wrap.
Keep the wrap away from the pepper. Come back
and simply peel the charred skin off the pepper. Try not to use water
while doing this because the water will rinse out some of the vitamins,
not to mention a majority of the taste of the pepper.
The "hot" variety is made up of the Habanero, Poblano, Chile de Arbol, Anaheim, Serrano, Cayenne, Maxi-Bell, and the Jalapeno, just to name a few.
Anaheim pepper
Serrano peppers
Jalapeno peppers
Banana pepper
Bell peppers can be eaten sliced, diced or halves of peppers can be placed
on sandwiches at this point. You can also add them to sandwiches, to
salads, or simply leave them as side dishes to you meals. Hot
peppers can be mashed into a paste or cut very thin to be used in a
variety of recipes such as potato salad, as dressings on sandwiches,
soups, stews, etc. The
key is little at a time. You will find that if you add a small amount of
the hot variety to anything, it will make the taste a bit more palatable.
The
second way to roast peppers is to wash the pepper, place it on top of a
large sheet of tin foil. At this point you can add just a drizzle of extra
virgin olive oil. Wrap the tin foil around the pepper, remember to leave a
little bit of room for the steam to rise. Cook in the oven at about 400
degrees for half an hour. Open the tin foil slowly as there will be steam
within. You can now add the peppers to your recipes.
There is also one
more manner to cook peppers. It's not as popular as the two methods
mentioned above, but by all means try it. Bring a small pot of water to a
boil. Slice an "x" at the bottom of the pepper. Place the pepper
into the boiling water to balance the vegetable. Do not leave the pepper
in the water for more than three minutes. Carefully remove the pepper with
a slotted spoon and place it into a bowl of ice cold water. You can use
the pepper (this works with bell and hot peppers) immediately. Or you can
wait for the pepper to cool and peel it, then use it.
The "sweet" variety is made up of the bell variety, pimento, banana and cubanelle peppers.
Cubanelle pepper
Bell peppers
You may need to sit down for this one. Green bell peppers have twice the amount of vitamin C as a citrus fruit! Hot peppers have even more vitamin C than bell peppers. Essentially, you can eat one sweet green pepper, and it will be roughly equivalent to eating two oranges.
Red peppers generally have more nutrients than green peppers, and peppers are essentially fat free. Hot peppers have even more vitamin C, about 357% more than an orange. Many varieties are also stocked with beta carotene and other vitamins.
People like the heat because...