Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Let This Be Your Summer Of Twist Peppers

"Twist" or shishito peppers at Lotte
Even cooks who burn their food can make delicious, trendy food by grabbing a bag of magic peppers.

On fancy restaurant menus, these are shishito peppers -- a sweet green pepper that chefs dress up with all kinds of flavors.  They're mostly sweet, although a few shishito on every plate with have a spicy kick, less than a jalapeƱo but more than the sweet flavor in most of the dish.

For you, they're "twist peppers" for $3 a pound in Asian supermarkets like Lotte and H Mart.

This is super-easy, and the terrific side dish goes with anything from burgers to Asian food.  They're just exotic enough to be worth a drive.  But they're basically sweet peppers, so you shouldn't scare anyone off.

Literally, this is the three-step recipe to cook twist peppers:
1) Heat a film of oil in a non-stick, cast iron pan, or a wok.   
2) Add the peppers.  Cook them over medium until the skin starts to blister.  
3)  When they have a few char marks and have softened slightly, toss them in a bowl.  Add a few pinches of salt -- best with some big-grained salt like sea salt -- until you like the taste.  
The cook time is up to you.  I like the peppers to have a little bite, so I take them off as soon as them soften.  If you want shishito ideas with more flavors or more vegetables, check the Internet for articles like this Denver Post post.

3 comments:

Trip Klaus said...

Anyone know if the Lotte or other Asian markets in Ellicott City or Catonsville still sell radish sprouts? They stopped in Montgomery County.

dzoey said...

Your posting must have spurred a run on twist peppers. Lotte was out of them yesterday :-)

Rick said...

Bought 1/2 lb a couple of days ago at Lotte/Rt. 40. $3.99/lb. They don't seem to soften enough with pan frying so next time I might microwave 'em for a few minutes first. And some are VERY HOT, others not at all. Can't tell by looking. Makes it quite an adventure game!