Best Chilli Peppers for Cooking

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Peppers are an essential to elevate the flavour of a dish and some have health benefits that aren’t mentioned as much. There’s many chilli peppers that can add more spice but here’s my top 5 that I always gravitate to when cooking.

Bird’s Eye Chilli

Used for dishes such as the Falafel Curry and Chilli Chicken Ramen, Bird’s Eye Chilli is a favourite of mine to use when cooking a variety of dishes. It’s spicy but not as powerful as other chillies and easy to purchase in supermarkets. Bird’s Eye Chilli has many benefits such as aiding in digestion, increases appetite and helps fight infections to the body. I’d recommend starting off with ½ of the chilli to get used to the pepper before making big dishes and adding 2-3.

Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne pepper is a little harder to come across as a chilli for me but when I get it, I use it for dishes where I need more spice for flavouring. A lot of the time it’s for minced meat dishes such as Chilli Con Carne and for my recipe, Chilli Beef Burritos. The added benefits using Cayenne Pepper such as strengthening immunity, boosting metabolism, and increases antioxidant levels can really help a person.

Habanero

Although I’ve not used a lot of this pepper , Habanero, for my recipes, when I do I’ve noticed it has a spicy yet solemnly sweet flavour to it. It’s a popular pepper used in many dishes but on Nyam with Ny, I’ve only used it for my Scotch Bonnet Pepper Curry. But health wise? The benefits of eating these peppers helps improve blood cholesterol levels and relieves your stuffy nose. I’d like to make some more dishes with this pepper when I get a hold of more Habanero peppers.

Naga

Naga peppers are great at enhancing dishes that need a more powerful flavour and because it contains capsaicin, it supposedly helps fights colds, aids in pain relief and relieves joint pain. It’s one of my favourites for making curries and noodles dishes such as my Japanese Curry and the Tofu Pepper Noodle Soup recipes which changed the taste of the dishes tremendously.

Scotch Bonnet

If I don’t have Naga pepper, Scotch Bonnet is by default the one I turn to for a lot of my cooking. Scotch Bonnet is known for being rich in vitamins A and C, has a good source of minerals and is supposed to be anti-inflammatory and This includes the Curry Chicken, Fish Balls Pepper Stew, Hellfire Shrimp Pasta and the Scotch Bonnet Pepper Shrimp recipes which is the most I’ve used in my cooking.