Thai Chili

Thai chili, also known as bird’s eye chili, is a small, slender, ferociously hot pepper of the genus Capsicum in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Its exact species is often debated, but most often pinned to Capsicum annuum or Capsicum frutescens, depending on the strain. The Thai call it prik kee noo, “mouse-dropping chili,” for the tiny upright pods, and the birds that scatter its seeds gave it the “bird’s eye” name. It carries the clean, piercing heat behind much of Southeast Asian cooking, from Thai nam prik and curry pastes to Vietnamese nuoc cham, Indonesian sambal, and Filipino dishes, with a footing in Kerala and Sri Lanka too.