辛い！karai means “spicy!”
Japan is not really known for spicy stuff. I think most Japanese dislike spicy food for the most part. So if you love spicy foods, you need to look for some ways to kick it up a notch. I will introduce some pastes, sauces, etc that will add some spice to your life while in Okinawa. Everything is available at local grocery stores and markets.
コーレーグース koregusu: the quintessential Okinawa condiment, hot chili awamori. Read more here. All Okinawa shokudo will have this on one of the tables.
練り唐辛子 neri tougarashi: neri means “paste,” while tougarashi is chili pepper. This paste is really quite hot, sort of the paste equivalent of koregusu. The only ingredients are chili peppers, awamori, salt, and vinegar. A little goes a long way.
柚子胡椒 yuzu koshou: yuzu is a citrus, koshou is pepper. This is a green-yellow colored paste made of chili peppers, yuzu, and salt that is somewhat fermented. Not too spicy, but still packs a punch.
七味唐辛子: shichimi tougarashi, or just shichimi, is 7 spice powder. It is spicy-savory, and usully contains some combination of: red chili pepper, sansho (Japanese pepper), orange peel, black/white sesame, hemp seed, ginger, nori, shiso, and poppy seeds. It is really common to find this at most restaurants.
ラー油 ra-yu: this is spicy chili oil. 油 yu means “oil.” This is usually a chili-infused sesame oil. 食べるラー油 taberu ra-yu (literally “chili oil for eating”) is actually supposed to be reduced spiciness; it often will include bits of fried garlic or onion in it to add extra flavor. I saw ads recently for “ladies ra-yu” which is very little spiciness (more fried onions but no garlic so you won’t have stinky breath, maintaining you lovely lady image). Lol.
Hello,
I have another question for you. Today, in Onna Farmers market I saw two kinds of sauce (I think it was a sauce, but I’m not sure, il was some kind of dark liquid). On the first bottle it was written ゆうな and on the second one まーさんどうし (I hope, I wrote it well). I looked for information on the Internet, but I’ve not found anything. Do you know what it can be ?
Thanks in advance.
ゆうな yuuna is a sauce (made in Onna!) for stir-fry or using in to shabu-shabu, or can be used as just a “tare” たれ, sauce to put over meat or vegetables. まーさん is Okinawa language for “tasty” and どうし I think should be referring to “how-to” (how to do something), so how to make something tasty. I cannot remember seeing this sauce before, but I will keep my eye out for any info.