Despite being a really horrible rainy, windy English August Saturday, still hundreds of people visited the Chilli Fiesta at Westdean gardens. It is a testament to the popularity of the festival which features 280 varieties of peppers, a chilli exhibition and a whole range of excellent stalls.
The food and drink stalls had me dipping and dunking to my heart’s content! There were so many sauces and chutney’s to try ranging from the delicately mild, to the mind blowingly hot! The Cranberry and Coriander & Shallot chellies from ChilliQueen were delicious; tangy, fragrant, full of flavour and with just a little warmth, really nice.
I not only dipped and dunked, but munched too! I tried the most delicious curries at Ishmael’s Mother, Chicken Penang, Chicken Curry, Chickpea curry and divine Spicy Lentils. The sauces and curries contain only free range meat, no GM, artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, and they’re gluten free. Mum and I walked away with one of each of the Penang and Curry sauces, I can’t wait to try them! Khalid, the founder of Ishmael’s Mother, recommended using monk fish with the Penang sauce, so I might just have to give it a go!
A few of my old favourites were there in force, including Munchy Seeds and Chillipepper Petes (who I first encountered at the Real Food Festival) and the delectable Coco Loco, who’s chocolate covered chillis were inspired and beautiful! They are really great just as they are but I have it on good advice, that they’re even better when slit open and rum or vodka are poured into them and left to soak in before eating them - sounds like great advice to me!
I also discovered some new things, I bought a green chile rub from Los Chileros, which can be rubbed on to meat before cooking or can be mixed with yogurt/mayonnaise to create a dip. As a dip, I really liked the flavour of the green chilli and I can imagine it will be fantastic rubbed on chicken before I roast it.
Of course, there were chillis everywhere, actual fresh produce and plants too. Mum and dad bought a Jalapeno plant laden with ripening chillis and with many flowers, so more fruits are on the way. I will ‘borrow’ some and either make a batch of my favourite chilli sauce or I may try out my own chocolate covered chillis!
I took lots of great photos despite the weather, so take a look at the Eating Britain Gallery for Chilli Fiesta 2008.
I hope you got a chance to go too, especially on Sunday which was sunny! I can’t wait for next year’s Chilli Fiesta, I’ve heard it’ll be even better than this one!
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