Madagastro: Sakay!

Before we go any further, I think it's important for you to understand the spices and such that we have available. We can find in the fancy store things like basil—the usual. But one very important part of food for us is hot peppers.

In Madagascar, they have a little something called sakay (emphasis on the second half of the word). I struggle to translate it into English, because it basically means a hot pepper, but it's very different from what we have. You can use the word either to describe actual peppers, or you can use it to describe a sort of hot sauce that is made with the peppers and is available anywhere you get food. Anywhere. It's at every table along with the salt.

Now the sauce itself is NOTHING like our stuff in America. A little bit goes a VERY long way. Every American will make the mistake here of piling a bunch on as if it were salsa or some kind of American hot sauce. And if you accidentally took a bite before testing—well, I'm not sure what would happen, but I really wouldn't want to be you.

It's delicious, to be clear. It's usually mashed up peppers and ginger. So so good. And definitely gives your food zip. In Mahabo, if ever I dipped some kind of street food I bought in it, all the kids would huddle around with wide eyes and see if I died after eating it. Not everyone can handle sakay. I think that's why it was created. Normally, Malagasy food isn't really seasoned. I'm not joking. They use salt. Some use pepper, but most don't. I mean, it's true that they put meat in everything, so I guess you could say that's there favorite flavoring. In any case, the point is you either eat unseasoned food or you eat it super spicey.

Okay so when I write I'll talk about the sakay and I want you to know what I'm talking about, so here is a lovely picture of the three main kinds of sakay that we use. The big green kind is called sakay-be, or big sakay. Makes sense. It is the mildest of the sakay, and I can usually handle this sliced up in small pieces in a salad or something—gives it kick but not too much as long as you don't add too much. It's nice to use when you don't just want to add spice, but you want to add vegetables or substance as well. It's also good when you can't dilute the sakay. In that salad, you couldn't really use a hotter spice because the hot wouldn't be spread throughout a sauce or dish—you'd be eating an actual piece of it. So yeah there you go.

The small sakay are the typical ones—the only kind I actually had in Mahabo. They are very spicey and usually I'll only throw like four or five into an entire dish. Depends on how much the food in the dish absorbs or dilutes the spice. The important thing to note with these guys is that they add kick but not really flavor. When you taste something with them, you feel the heat but don't necessarily notice a flavor. This is probably why ginger is also used when making the sakay sauce—it definitely adds flavor.

The orange medium one I'm not really sure of the name. Sometimes in our house Paul and I call it the orange sakay. We're very clever. Basically, these have as much kick as the little guys, but they're obviously bigger. I'll often put one—maybe two—into a sauce. Depends on whether or not I'm adding the other kinds of sakay. The great thing about these are that they are very flavorful. I love it. They're great for something like beans or a sauce. If you are shooting for a specific flavor, however, they might not be what you want to go with since they could overwhelm the dish.

So there you go—our peppers. Hopefully this makes things a bit more clear when I describe what we cook up!