KennethT

To anyone with chilli growing experience, I had read that harvesting the chillies while still green stimulates the plant to put out even more flowers. Is there any validity to this? Not that I need any more at the moment - I've probably got a good 20 chillies growing and again as many flowers still blooming but I'm always looking to learn how to increase yield.

lots of places in Chinatown have Ataulfo mangoes for $1 each, sometimes less. We've been addicted to the large Vietnamese mangoes right now, but they're not really a bargain per se.... but they're fantastic. Some are still green (which my wife prefers), some are just about fully ripe and some are in that in-between time that I prefer.

I also smoke first - I find it makes a rounder smoke flavor as some of the smoke winds up in the bath water.

Singapore Nyonya ayam buah keluak - chicken curry made with the buah keluak black nut (meat at the top of the plate) Served with Stir fried bok choy with garlic and white rice.

Teowchew bak kut teh with homemade pork broth, garlic, black pepper from Sarawak and Argentinian red shrimp Cucumber pickle

Thanks for taking us along! What is the dipping liquid for the fried oysters?

Yeah - I tried growing this variety about a half year ago but I couldn't get the flowers to set. I'm not sure if it was too cool by the window (it was late fall/winter), if I wasn't pollinating them correctly (the only experience I have is with tomato), if there wasn't enough light or if I didn't use a strong enough bloom nutrient strength. Any or all of those could have been factors. Hopefully I'll have a lot more soon - not much you can do with one chilli!!

My first chilli pepper!!!

That gets pretty much anything off! I used to do that all the time with pans that had a lot of polymerized oil around the slope of the fry pan.

Green chilli flakes? I don't think I've ever seen that. I also didn't realize it was possible - I figured the green chillies would turn red while sitting out in the drying process.

An update for my photo from about a month ago. This is the cabe keriting (long curly chilli) plant - with flowers: I've been pollinating the flowers manually - hopefully I'll get some chillies!!! I don't think they exist in the USA - at least that I can find. This is the kencur (sand ginger) - originally in the solo cup it had about one leaf or so... it had really started to fill out in the solo cup so I gave it some more room in a 1 gallon fabric pot. The rhizome grows really slowly, so this is still probably only 1 rhizome with more leaves/shoots. These are what they call cabe rawit in Indonesia - typically translated as Thai chillies, they're a lot more plump than a standard thai chilli so I'm curious as to how these will do.

I'd also recommend Laurel's Heirloom Tomato plants. They have an amazing variety and you can buy just one plant (or you could years ago back when I did so - I don't know if they've changed their policy).

I am curious as to what you personally would think of the results... ATK's opinions aside... TBH, I've never been a big fan of them, maybe even less so when CK was there.

I've found that if I salt only and let it sit like 10 minutes, it starts getting a bit limp. That's why I don't throw the chillies in until the very end because they DEFINITELY get limp quickly since they're sliced thinly. One way to turn your belief into reality is to try it yourself both ways.... I'd be curious to see what you find.

It's a quick pickle.... smash cucumbers, removing seeds. For about a pound of cucumbers, I cover with about a tablespoon of sugar, mix well, then rest 10-15 min to draw out moisture. Then drain well, and add a bunch of salt (I don't really measure, but probably a couple teaspoons?), about 1/2t MSG, 1/3t chicken powder, minced garlic and/or sliced shallots and 2T rice vinegar or lime juice or a combination thereof. Let sit 5 minutes minimum, taste and add more salt if needed, then add the sliced chillies just before serving so they don't start wilting. The Chinese YouTube chef, Wang Gang, once said that using the sugar first will keep the cucumbers crisp even once in the salt for a while and I find that it works well. Since you wind up draining the sugar water, they're not too sweet - just to set off the vinegar.