Shishito Peppers

Last year people started talking about shishito peppers on social media. They were showing up in CSA boxes and people didn’t know what to do with them. They were getting rave reviews as appetizers, too. So this year I planted one– I thought I planted a few, but the plants always get confused and then I have too many for the raised bed so, no, I planted one.

Next year I will plant more. Several.

They’re wonderful plants. My pepper plants were not as large this year as in past years, so I’m not sure this is typical, but the plant is compact and absolutely loaded with little crumpled emerald green peppers. The photo here just has the stragglers, as I’ve already harvested it twice.

I’m not a big fan of green peppers in general, so I was not sure I’d like these, especially when people recommended just blistering them and sprinkling them with sea salt and eating them plain. There are also all sorts of recipes for dipping sauces, so I went that route. I was making zucchini fritters as the main dish, so didn’t want to go “too Asian” with the dipping sauce.

My favorite condiments definitely bear the name Swad. I get them at the Asian grocery in St. Cloud. I’ve written before about their coriander chutney, which is a bright and flavorful cilantro sauce. I use it in place of cilantro in salsa and many other dishes. Unlike fresh herbs, it freezes and cans well in recipes.

I also really love the Swad tamarind chutney, and use it to flavor yogurt sauces and in stews. It seemed just the right thing with a yogurt/mayo sauce for the peppers. As an alternative, I put out a hot pepper mayo, too. We ended up putting that on the fritters, which I made with an extra egg so they were more like zucchini omelets.

But the shishito. They blistered quickly on a hot grill while I made the fritters in a skillet. They were really done in 2 minutes, sort of popping or splitting open when they’re done.

The peppers were gone in a flash, and the idea there will be no more until next season was so sad! The tamarind mayo was perfect with it.

Ah, well, there are other things to eat…