QuoteHow does it feel to be
One of the beautiful people
The Beatles - Baby you're a Rich Man
Another widely available chilli is this one known as 美人椒 (Mand: měi rén jiāo; Cant: mei5 jan4 ziu), which means 'beautiful person/people chilli). Chinese seldom does plurals. As with the English, 美 when applied to people almost always means females, so 'beautiful woman/women chilli'. No one has ever been able enlighten me to the origin of the name. But, in Hunan young girls are often referred to as 湖南辣妹 (hú nán là mèi), meaning Hunan hot sister. Whether this is due to their love of chillies or their attractiveness is not for me to say! It is a different 'mei', but the connection is not lost on the Chinese.
About 8 inches/20cmlong. Mid-hot.
Sometimes, I get the red ones fresh, but not always. The dried red ones are available all year round. Along with the facing heaven variety above, these are always in my kitchen, both fresh green and dried red.
They are used in stir fries, hot pots, stews and braises etc. The red are also sold ground and flaked.
Flaked Beautiful Women!
