Chili Oil

Along Washington Street in Makati, there used to be a mami house owned by a Chinoy we knew by the name Ponga. He served only 3 products—beef mami, chicken mami and asado siopao. And I couldn’t choose which was the better of the two. All I knew was that they’re best paired with his homemade siopao (which according to legend was made of cat meat). A bowl of mami would cost P15.00 (quite costly at that time during the 80’s) and you got a sizable coil of freshly-made noodles, two steaming hot ladles of broth of your choice from two ever afire pots, each representing the flavors; chunks of either beef or chicken (although some speculated that the beef was actually carabao meat), shredded Chinese cabbage and a sprinkling of green chives. Upon serving the bowl on the plainly mantled wooden long table that had seen better days, you will then be faced with a confusing line of add-ons like toasted garlic, finely ground pepper in plastic shakers that we used to loosen up the lid a bit so the next user would be blooped into pouring its entire contents into his mami; vetsin, soy sauce and the divisive chili paste. Divisive among eaters because you’d either dread it for it’s extreme hotness, or love it for the same reason.

I loved it. It made a whole world of difference to an otherwise routine taste. It had this kick that makes you want to eat more, sip more, ask for more!

The mami house was long gone. We lost it when developers inched their way into the innards of our barangay and started changing the landscape with high rises of glass and steel. Ponga was said to have sold the place for a hefty price and transferred to another town. I miss him. I miss his mami and I miss his chili paste.

Here’s my version of chili paste of the dreaded kind. It’s lovely.

Ingredients:

10 pcs finger chilis

10 pcs red hot chili peppers

3 cloves garlic

½ tsp grated ginger

½ tsp annatto powder

½ tsp salt

¼ cup corn oil

Procedure:

Mortar-and-pestle all ingredients except oil until they turn into paste.

Heat oil in a sauce pan and add the paste.

Simmer over low heat for 8-10 minutes.

Turn off heat and let cool.

Transfer in a dry jar.

Best to spice up any dish, or as a dipping sauce. Use as you would chili peppers.