Topic: What is the hottest/spicyist cuisine in the world?

[chillihothot]

Hi all. I've been making curries for the last year based off this forum, and really, I have been making them hotter, hotter and hotter. I have been putting in 20 bird eye + 2 big kashmir dried + 1 tsp extra hot chilli powder. I try to give it layers of chilli flavour but don't like overdoing the powder due to its unpleasant powderiness if too much is added.

I am wanting it to go even hotter and more chilli complex so I may look at a different variety of chilli. I tried some Mr Naga paste, I love it but I was surprised that it wasn't as hot as I was expecting.

Anyways all of this thought about me chilli got me quite curious. How hot do these curries get in the wild? Which country/region has the hottest? I mean I think you have to go regional because countries are too big to really classify. Some obvious candidates are Thailand and India, but I am wondering Mexican, Carribean, Malaysia? I would generally exclude the UK phall because I don't think its that traditional and the ones I have had have been pretty horrible, no good flavour just the taste of raw chilli powder.

Can anyone offer any insights? How hot do you go and how do you get there? Have you travelled anywhere and found anything interestingly hot?

[goncalo]

Not an expert on the extreme side of spiciness, but I came across these chilli powders the other day:

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Naga-Jolokia-Chilli-Powder.html#aISG135

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Habanero-Chilli-Powder.html#aISG137

Also, mr naga as you say is not quite as hot as the name suggests. I was also shocked. However, there is a lot of other naga based pastes which are quite hotter. Bengali Bob tried a number of them and can certainly advise you better than me

One small note. If you are noticing an "unpleasant powderness", could it be that you aren't cooking your chilli properly? The chilli is a bit like flour,if you don't cook it properly, its natural flavour/texture will be evident in the dish.