Spicy, Spicy, Spicy

There was a memorable meal that we created back in November, but that I never got around to posting about.  The "unpleasantly spicy" soup experience last week brought it back to mind so I thought I'd share.  

Here is the necessary back-story:  We had more spicy peppers from our garden than we knew what to do with.  Cayennes, jalapanos, and serranos.   We'd been adding them here or there to stir-fry, curry, chili, etc trying to use them up, but we still had loads of them.  Eventually I dried the remaining cayennes, and we ate up all the jalapanos, but we still had a dozen or more serranos on our hands.

So, Matt found this recipe for vegan take on Ethiopian food.  The recipe called for a sauce where the primary ingredient was serranos.  Perfect. 

At dinnertime I took one bite and looked over at at Matt.  "How are you possibly going to eat this?!"  I asked him.  "I mean, if I think it is spicy then Matt certainly doesn't stand a chance," I thought.  He can have a rather tender-mouth when it comes to spicy food sometimes.

Well, he ate it.  He used the crepes we'd made (What? You don't think crepes are part of authentic Ethiopian cuisine?!) to temper the spice just as he did with the dumplings in the spicy soup.  He was glistening with sweat by the time both meals were over though.  There was much water being drunk.  In the end I'd say we both enjoyed it....just not in a eat-it-every-day sort of way.  It took care of the last dozen serranos though so mission accomplished.

Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers
10 serrano peppers, partially seeded and coarsely chopped (Remove all seeds for less heat.)
1 T fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable stock
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 lbs seitan, cut into strips
2 bell peppers, seeded and cut into strips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place all ingredients except seitan and bell pepper into a blender and puree until mostly smooth. 
Place the seitan strips and peppers in a 9x13 inch glass baking dish and smother with the puree.
Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove foil and flip seitan and peppers.
Bake for another 20 minutes.
Serve with flat bread, crepes, or rice.