Anyone know where I could get some decent chili peppers? Fresh prefered but dried would work. Needs to be at least semi hot (not like some of these flakes that seem to be heatless). I see tons of what they call Sili here that are tiny chili peppers but the flavor is horrible and all they have is some heat. Not suitable for most things I'd use chili peppers for. I'd also love to find a decent chili paste. One that is Chinese or Thai would be great but not one of the Philippine copies that is fairly sweet and bleh. (heat also prefered)
I couldn't find them either, same with reliable supply of green, red, yellow bell peppers. For what you are talking about I just use a combination of spices cayenne pepper, chilli powder, and red chili flakes found in Lee Plaza and Hypermart. Not a bullseye but at least somewhat in the ballpark.
If enough people expressed an interest I would be willing to get a balikbayan box together, from the states ,of items you guys would like. I would even take pics before purchasing to make sure it would be what you wanted. I know when I lived there, many times I wish I had some items that just weren't available there.
I find the chilli fresh from the bush really good and easy to grow here, you can find diffirent varieties, where the chilli fruits have various strength and shape
The wife uses the small chili peppers (found everywhere) for most of her cooking; I prefer the thin green chili peppers (around 4" long), especially if I will roast them on the grill. I think it would be fairly easy to make a chili paste homemade, many recipes out there. Shawn
Will try and find a homemade chili paste recipe. I just don't find the taste of the tiny chili's they use here to be a good flavor in the sorts of things I make.
Just remembered Moon Cafe has a Chili Cheese appetiser that may use the type of pepper you are looking for. If it is maybe someone there can tell you where they source them.
I agree, the small local peppers are fine for local dishes but I don't think they have much flavor...just heat. The long green chili peppers are decent, especially roasted; which is how I would personally tackle making a chili paste...roasted peppers rock in my opinion (though something that needs to be done outside). As I mentioned in another post I found a really good chili pepper that has great flavor and the perfect amount of heat, I'm bringing some seeds back but obviously that is a long term thing if you want to grow them. Shawn