I MUST HAVE MY CHILLI

I must have my chilli.

Photos : Cilli

In any meal, if I don't have chilli as a condiment, the food seems a little bland and the feeling not quite satisfying. And not any mild chilli for me but the cili padi. I tried the habanero which you can sometimes get from the wet market but I don't quite like the taste. The Thai cilli is similar to our cili padi and nowadays, the really small cili padi seems a bit hard to find. What we find mainly are the ones in the picture which I bought fresh from the market and I am glad they are rather cheap. Some fact about chilli below.
Chilli Intensity
The "heat" of chili peppers is measured in Scoville heat units (SHU), which is the number of times a chili extract must be diluted in water for it to lose its heat. Bell peppers rank at 0 SHU, New Mexico green chilis at about 1,500 SHU, jalapeños at 3,000–6,000 SHU, and habaneros at 300,000 SHU. The record for the hottest chili pepper was assigned by Guinness World Records to the naga jolokia (from northeastern India), measuring over 1,000,000 SHU. Pure capsaicin, which is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, and crystalline-to-waxy solid at room temperature, measures 16,000,000 SHU.  (What's the measurement of cili padi?)
Nutritional Value
Red chillis contain high amounts of vitamin C and carotene (provitamin A). Yellow and especially green chilis (which are essentially unripe fruit) contain a considerably lower amount of both substances. In addition, peppers are a good source of most B vitamins, and vitamin B₆ in particular. They are very high in potassium, magnesium, and iron. Their high vitamin C content can also substantially increase the uptake of non-heme iron from other ingredients in a meal, such as beans and grains.
Source: Wikipedia
 

Photos: Bottled Chilli

Fresh chillis give me a certain zing in my mouth when accompanied with tasty food and especially rice or noodles. It somehow brings out the flavour of the food I am eating when accompanied with a little fresh cut chillis. When fresh chillis are not available there's always bottled chilli sauce. I have all sorts for different meal types. Chili sauce is especially a must with fried meehoon/beehoon (vermicelli). I don't go for the sweet type as you can see from the bottle, they must be the hottest ones, cili padi sauce.
At least I know that not only I enjoy my food more but at the same time I am getting my vitamins and iron intake by having chilli with my meal. Whatever meal time it is, breakfast, lunch or dinner, I must have my chilli.