HOT SWEET PILI PILI PASTE

One of the thing that I learned to  love in Tanzania is to eat pili pili mbozi, the Swahili hot chillies. I love it in  my  kachumbari, supo,  pasta, nyama choma, and almost in anything that I eat including in my green mango  enchilada (salad) and chipsi mayai. Pili pili ho ho is available all year round  in parts of the country from the  Isles to the Mainland.  Economically, when you make your own chili paste it is 80 percent cheaper that the commercially produce  ones that you will buy from the supermarkets. So, it is more economical. Health wise, it contains  an alkaloid compound , capsaicin, which gives strong spicy pungent character. Early laboratory studies on experimental mammals suggest that capsaicin has anti-bacterial, anti-carcinogenic, analgesic and anti-diabetic properties. It also found to reduce LDL cholesterol levels in obese individuals. Chili peppers have amazingly high levels of vitamins and minerals.

African winter is fast approaching and to keep  us warm, I am sharing you  my  hot, sweet pilipili paste.

Ingredients:

¼ kg of pilipili mbozi (hot pepper), thinly sliced

3 table spoon of brown sugar

2 table spoon of crystal salt

4 table spoon vegetable oil

Procedure:

·        Pour the vegetable oil in the sauce pan until it is hot.

·        Put the pilipili mbozi in the pan and cover until the skin of the pilipili separate.

·        Add sugar and the salt together until it is dissolve under low flame.

·        Continue stirring it slowly that it will start to thicken  for 10 mi it minutes

·        Let it cool and transfer in a sterilize glass jar and cover it.

·        Viola! You have now a hot and sweet pilipili mbozi paste for your salads, cookings, and snacks!