Chili & Cheese

Chippy Chili and Cheese. The first of other Chippy flavors to be launched after decades of its existence in the Philippine snack market as a barbecue flavored corn snack. I remember eating Chippy in canisters during childhood.

The first time I heard about chili and cheese was when the legendary band Color It Red appeared in the Chippy commercial for its Chili and Cheese flavor corn snack. I've tasted it and it became my favorite immediately. The taste lingered in my mouth but what really is chili and cheese? A combination of Chili powder and cheese powder? Is it just flavoring? Or is there really a chili and cheese dish (I suppose Mexican)? If there is, I haven't seen one.

Color It Red, one of the coolest bands that came in the 90's. Always referred to as the "New Bohemians" of the Pinoy Rock scene

So I toyed with the idea of making a literal Chili and Cheese using real chilies and real cheese, but how? Would it be raw chilies dipped in cheese sauce like you would dip nachos? Pwede. Would it be a mixture of chopped chilies and cheese wrapped like a cheese stick? Pwede rin. Then one day as I was making calamari, this idea of a chili calamari struck me like eureka!

Japanese breadcrumbs is really my bestfriend.

Or is there really a chili and cheese dish

(I suppose Mexican)?

If there is, I haven't seen one.

Ingredients:

10 pcs. finger chilies

2 tbsp flour, dissolved in

1 large egg, beaten

1/2 cup Japanese bread crumbs

1/3 of a pack of cheese, sliced into strips

oil for frying

Procedure:

Slit open the chilies lengthwise on one side and scrape off the seeds from the inside using the end of a fork handle.

Using a bread knife or any knife with teething, lightly scrape the outer skin of the chili to create some roughness to it so the batter would stick.

Insert a cheese strip or two inside the chili.

Coat with batter made of flour and egg.

Dredge in Japanese bread crumbs.

Deep fry until golden brown then drain in paper towels.

Serve with sweet chili sauce.
At first I had problems of breading the chili because the chili skin is quite smooth and breading of any kind wouldn't stick to it. Or if they ever would, you just lose the breading once you slide the chili into the hot oil. After many attempts, I figured that if I scrape the skin a bit with a knife I'd create some grooves and expose some moisture for the breading to stick to. Then I went further by coating the chilies first with batter for a reinforced stickability before dredging it in Japanese breading. So there you have it, my interpretation of Chili and Cheese. Whatever it is.