With our drastic reduction of meat consumption this year, I try not to overdo it with beans and fish all the time.  I started making tofu dishes (more on that later!), and looking into vegetables that we normally don’t cook at home.  When I was in the Asian market, I spotted a bag of silky Shishito peppers.  Remembering the mouth-watering Shishito pepper we had at a Ramen shop up at Mammoth called Ramenya, I decided to bring these lush velvety green treats home and try my hands on them.

Shishito pepper is mildly sweet, slender, and thin-skinned.  Shishito is short for shishitogarashi, meaning lion’s head, probably due to the resemblance of the wrinkly pepper skin to the animal’s.  Paired with a pint of Asahi beer, we were popping these green finger foods to our mouth like popcorn and had to order a second large plate for everyone to share!  Here is a recipe I came up with, if you’d like to see:

EATS: Blistered Shishito Peppers

Ingredients (serves 1-4, depending on how good you are about sharing)

• 0.5lb whole Shishito peppers, washed, and dried
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• Splash of fish sauce
• 3-6 Chile peppers

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet in medium-high heat.
• Lay the peppers gently into the skillet and be careful not to let the oil splashed onto your arms!  This video shows you how hot the oil has to be:

• Turn the Shishito peppers to make sure all sides are properly blistered.  Again, be careful with the hot oil!
• Sprinkle with salt and a splash of fish sauce to taste
• Once all the peppers are blistered, add the red Chile peppers for the vibrant red color and heat (you can skip this if you don’t like spicy food).
• Add the minced garlic last so as to not burn them.  Mix well and turn off heat.
• Enjoy!