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Hot shot

A dab of chili paste goes a long way toward banishing the blahs.

The blandest-looking food, the most innocent clear broth, the palest bowl of noodles will explode with flavor if you add a dab of red-hot chili sauce. It isn't just heat: Chili adds bright red color, of course, but it also performs a secret function in food. Like salt, it brings out the other flavors that are present, but not lively, in the dish.

So if you make a bowl of chicken soup the way you've always made chicken soup - with a plump bird to produce a gelatinous broth and lots of root vegetables for sweetness - and put a little Asianil8p2,19l chili paste on the end of a chopstick and swirl it into your bowl, that soup will change. The chili seems to make the broth taste more of poultry and the vegetables taste more of the earth.

All over Southeast Asia, little bowls of chili paste or other thick hot sauces (most made with the chili seeds ground into them for extra zip) always appear on the table. In Thailand and Vietnam, these sauces might be made from fresh chilies pounded by hand with salt and garlic. Chinese groceries often have several shelves devoted to jars of chili sauces. The only way a confused consumer can figure out which ones are suitable is to take a few home.

Then, begin by adding them judiciously, and make sure the ingredients already in the dish are fairly bland - like lots of noodles, potatoes, rice, or bread. The plain ingredients

TASTE TEST Some bottled hot chilies come as pastes, some as sauces. Most of them contain garlic and some sugar, but the pastes are generally thicker than the sauces. You need to taste each one with food in order to test its potency. Don't rush to add more, in case your paste or sauce offers slow-release heat.

CELLOPHANE NOODLE SALAD WITH SHRIMP AND SMOKED SALMON

From Sri Owen's very good book Noodles the New Way comes this Thai shrimp and salmon salad with cellophane noodles. Owen says that there are many spicy fish salads in Thailand. She toned this version way down, she writes. Serve it with a little Thai chili sauce. Cellophane noodles, also called bean threads or mung bean sticks, are fully cooked and only need soaking. If you want to prepare the noodles several hours in advance, leave them in cold water to prevent them from sticking together.

3 1/2 ounces cellophane noodles
Salt, to taste
16 very small button mushrooms
1/2 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and seeded
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 bird's-eye chili pepper, very finely chopped, or a large pinch of cayenne pepper
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped scallion
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
16 extra-large shrimp, cooked
4 ounces smoked salmon, cut into julienne strips
2 heads Belgian endive, pulled apart into leaves (for serving)

Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Turn it off and let it stand for 5 minutes. Put the noodles into a large bowl and add enough hot water to cover them completely. Let them sit for 5 minutes. Drain them, rinse them with cold water until they are cool, and drain them again.

In a small saucepan filled with salted water, bring the mushrooms to a boil. Cook them for 2 minutes, then drain them.

Slice the cucumber thinly. Transfer it to a bowl. Add the lemon juice, sugar, salt, soy sauce, chili pepper or cayenne, shallot, scallion, and cilantro. Stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Add the mushrooms, shrimp, and smoked salmon.

Use scissors to snip the noodles several times so they are easy to eat.

Arrange the endive on each of 4 dinner plates. Divide the noodles among the plates, top with the shrimp and cucumber mixture. Serve at once.

SERVES 6 AS AN APPETIZER

FISH AND SAUSAGE STEW

2 tablespoons oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large leek, trimmed and chopped
1 can (1 pound, 12 ounces) imported whole tomatoes
Pinch of saffron diluted in 1/4 cup boiling water
Pinch each of cinnamon, allspice, and cumin
1 bottle dry white wine
1 cup bottled clam broth mixed with 1 cup cold water
Salt, to taste
1 teaspoon Chinese chili paste, or to taste
1 blood orange, unpeeled
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 pounds skinless, boneless cod or other firm white fish
4 sweet Italian sausages
6 small Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn potatoes

In a large flameproof casserole, heat the oil and cook the onion and leek over low heat, stirring often, for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, tip the tomatoes into a bowl and use a scissors to snip them into rough 1-inch pieces.

Sprinkle the saffron, cinnamon, allspice, and cumin into the onion mixture and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the onions and stir well. Add the wine, clam broth, salt, and chili paste.

Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer the mixture for 10 minutes.

Remove the ends from the blood orange. Halve the orange and slice it thinly. Add it to the pan with the thyme. Stir well and set the pan aside. (You can refrigerate it at this point for 2 to 6 hours for the flavors to mellow.)

Meanwhile, cut the fish into 2-inch pieces and refrigerate it, tightly covered, until ready to serve. Prick the sausages well all over. Set the oven at 400 degrees. Roast the sausages for 10 to 15 minutes, turning often, until they are golden brown all over. Let them cool and cut them into thick slices on an extreme diagonal.

Cut the potatoes into thick slices. In a saucepan fitted with a steamer insert and several inches of cold water, steam the potatoes in a covered pan for 15 minutes or until they are tender. Add more water as necessary.

To serve: Bring the tomato-wine broth to a boil. If it seems thick, add a few tablespoons of cold water. Taste the sauce, and add more chili paste if it seems bland.

Add the fish and sausage, spoon the onion-leek mixture over them, and cover the pan. Cook the fish for 8 minutes, checking the pan several times, or until the fish is cooked through. During cooking, take care that the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. (Add more water if necessary.) Move the fish gently to prevent it from falling apart.

Put several slices of steamed potato into the bottom of 8 shallow soup plates. Ladle the fish stew on top and serve at once.

SERVES 8

CHICKEN SOUP WITH RICE AND EGGS

Salt, to taste
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup long-grain white rice or basmati rice
6 cups chicken stock
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3 scallions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons hot chili sauce

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add the salt and lemon half. When the water is bubbling vigorously, sprinkle the rice into the water, stirring constantly, until all the rice is added and the water returns to a boil. Let the water bubble steadily for 12 minutes or until the rice is tender (taste one of the grains).

Tip the rice into a strainer and poke several holes in the rice to allow the excess water to drain. Set it aside.

In a large saucepan, bring the stock to a boil. Add salt, to taste. With a wooden spoon, stir in the rice (discard the lemon half).

Add a few spoonfuls of the hot stock to the eggs. Set the stock over medium-low heat so it does not boil again. Return the egg mixture to the pan of stock and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 1 minute or until the eggs cook and scramble into threads.

Stir in the scallions, parsley, and chili sauce. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve at once.

SERVES 4