Yum - got to have spicy!
I made myself some finadene (fin-ah-dén-ee). It is Chamorro. It is tasty. I remember it from being at my grandma's house when I was little. I didn't like spicy then, but I always thought it smelled good. Everyone always put it all over their food - kind of how some people put soy sauce all over their Asian food. My aunts and uncles always said that nobody made it better than my Grandma. I used to watch her make it, and was always fascinated for some reason.
She would start by going out into the backyard and picking about 3 or 4 little green and red hot peppers off the bush growing by the rubber tree. She told me she grew her own because California didn't have the right kind - the kind everyone in Guam used. We'd go back in the house, and she would spear the peppers on an old steak knife before roasting them over the flame of the gas stove. She always warned me not to get to close, but I liked to smell the peppers roasting. I remember hearing the skin pop after it started to bubble and blacken under the heat. If I was too close, the fumes from the blistered skin would burn my eyes.
(Incidentally, Nathan thought it was rather strange that after living in the house for over a year with no stove, the first thing I do when I get one is throw a couple of peppers on an old steak knife and roast them over the flames of my beloved new gas stove.)
After the peppers were roasted, she would slit the side, remove the seeds and slice them thinly in little rings. The peppers would go in to her old Tupperware bowl reserved for the finadene or sometimes an old Cool Whip cintainer. She would throw in some chopped white onions, sometimes green onions as well, and then splash some soy sauce on top. Next she would add vinegar and squeeze some lemon juice in. She never measured.
Midgeling's basic finadene recipe:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar
juice of half a lime
1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion
3-4 roasted seranno chilis, seeded and sliced
Combine all ingredients, let sit at least a couple of hours before eating. Spoon over rice, meat, vegetables, or wherever a little heat is needed.