I didn't have a hot dinner, for National Hot and Spicy Day, but definitely a spicy one! I went over to my Indian friend's house, and we had a dinner with a dal, which she made with things from the garden - eggplants, a squash, and tomatoes, and spices, though she doesn't put as many in as I do! I made up for it with a thoran I brought over everything for - like that one with the okra I made a few days ago, but with a bunch of Thai red beans, along with a huge green pepper, cut up to about half inch pieces. This one I put no heat in (the Mom can't eat much heat lately), but I made the coconut/garlic paste, and got the spices I needed for the dish, and cooked it there, in a large CI skillet, which worked great. I also took over one of those green chutneys, made with mint and cilantro, which I left the green chili out of, but separated some, and put some in that, for those of us who needed heat. The son made some roti - a flatbread, in which he put a little nigella and ajwain seed. We had some rice on the side, but nobody even ate any! Definitely filled with spices!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot - she opened that pickled melon I made almost a week ago, and loved that, as a side with the dinner. It wasn't hot at all - had some whole black pepper, but that's all. I told her it was something I made using a recipe for watermelon rind, so she could probably make that, and get something similar, instead of waiting to grow this stuff.