[Ted] We want you to murder our judges with chilies.
The count has gone up to six ghost peppers.
-That's a lot. -We're getting it all.
It's not in my contract.
[Maneet] Bring on the heat!
[Nahika] I consider myself to be the spicy queen.
I'm scared.
[Karan] Everybody's sweating. Everybody's coughing.
Schvitzing over here.
I'm not trying to, like, take a trip to the hospital.
[groans]
-Amanda, are you okay? -[both laugh]
Yeah, baby!
My mouth is on fire.
You took the habanero to the edge.
Let's see if we survive.
Ooh.
[Nahika] I consider myself to be the spicy queen.
I cook with peppers all the time.
This is one of my favorite childhood dishes.
I mainly specialize in Caribbean food.
So I consider myself to be a Haitian Ambassador.
Why spaghetti and hot dogs?
They're inexpensive and accessible in Haiti.
I actually ended up starting a food truck in Austin, Texas because,
Texas didn't really have Haitian food.
I am a very tenacious firecracker.
It's gonna be scary hot.
[Matt] Everything in my life has led up to this moment.
[chuckles]
Cool as a cucumber, baby.
I'm born and raised in Arizona,
so I love incorporating roasted chilies into my dishes.
The best complement to spicy is char.
I mash them with international flavors.
Tomatill-yo, this is yummy!
Guys, I'mma cheat hot. I can't help it.
I'm a highly trained culinary professional.
And I have the leg up because some people crave sweet,
I crave spicy.
So I'm ready to bring the heat.
[Karan] I'm on a mission
to spread the love of Indian food all throughout the States.
My dishes are full of flavor.
We want to showcase the thousands of spices that we use,
like, cumin, coriander, turmeric and garlic.
Not just chili-chili hot.
I've been to all over the world cooking
but the only place I haven't been is the Chopped kitchen.
[Kimberly] I may look young and innocent but I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
My specialty is Southern Thai cuisine.
It's all about spice.
Oh, it's actually very spicy.
My mom owned a restaurant.
So I've had restaurant training but also Thai mom training.
All I do is dream about
spicy Thai food. Just, like,
don't mess with me in the kitchen.
Are you scared we're gonna burn our mouth today, or...
You guys have such a high tolerance for spice.
I have a super high tolerance.
But it also needs to be balanced properly.
[Amanda] Where is the beer? Because I have to have beer with my
-spicy food. -It's right under my station.
-[Amanda] Hello! -[Maneet] Hello.
Hi.
Hello, chefs.
-Hey, Ted. -Hey, Ted.
You are coming in hot
for our special, flaming' hot battle.
Every basket will feature chili peppers.
And the best part
as the rounds progress,
so does the spice level.
-All right. -Let's go.
Let's jump right to basket one.
Check out your appetizer ingredients.
[Karan] Ooo.
[Nahika gasps]
Yes, I love these chilies.
[Ted] And here we see Thai peppers.
It is actually my favorite chili. [chuckles]
[Ted] What else do you have? Lump crab.
[Nahika] Yes Let's go.
-Cucumbers. -[Ted] Cucumbers.
I knew you guys were gonna do this.
-Oh, my, God. -[Ted] Spicy cheese curls.
My favorite snack.
Twenty minutes to get the job done.
Let's get the crab started.
[Ted] Time starts,
-now. -[judges cheer]
Come on, chefs, let's go. Bring the heat.
-You got this -Spice it up.
[Ted] Maneet, Amanda, there's a special
guest judge here with you,
a native of Ethiopia who has cooked
in 18 different countries,
Chef Fariyal Abdullahi.
Are you okay with flaming' hot ingredients?
I am more than okay with flaming' hot ingredients.
We don't use pacifiers for children in Ethiopia.
We use jalapenos,
-to soothe our babies. -Oh, no!
[laughs]
So, let's talk about the Thai pepper in this basket.
[Fariyal] You see these Thai chilies in the sauces in Thai food.
A hundred thousand on the Scoville Scale.
[Karan] The chilies are spicy.
[Fariyal] So, the Scoville heat unit
it's how we measure the concentration
of capsaicin in each pepper.
So the higher the number
the hotter the pepper is.
I once had one Thai chili on a dare.
I think my ears are still
-ringing and that was 20 years ago. -[Fariyal laughs]
And right behind you. Right behind you.
[Maneet] Hi, Kimberly!
-Got this? -Definitely. It's in my blood.
I was born in Southern Thailand
and, uh, Southern Thai food is the spiciest
out of all four regions.
[Maneet] What's the plan?
[Kimberly] I'm gonna make a spicy crab Rangoon.
With some cream cheese and some crab inside.
In my crab Rangoon filling, is the lump crab meat,
cream cheese, soy sauce and the Thai bird eye chili.
[Maneet] Crab has a natural
-sweetness to it. -[Fariyal] Right. Yes.
Which stands up to this beautiful chili so well.
-[Amanda] Yes. -[Fariyal] Yes.
[Karan] The lump crab meat transports me
to the south coast of India,
where the seafood is really prevalent.
[Maneet] Karan, what's the plan?
I'm gonna do a...
Crab koliwada.
Which is like a batter fried crab cake
and then it's gonna have a cucumber raita,
which is gonna be a very nice soothing thing,
because at the end, it's chili.
So you need something to balance it out.
Sounds good.
[Karan] I make a quick tempering
with some cumin seeds, some shallots and some Thai chili peppers.
Mascarpone cheese and spicy cheese curls
provide nice binding to the crab.
[Maneet] So, theses spicy cheese curls,
it's a guilty indulgence which is always in my pantry.
It can be used as a binder, you can use it as a salt.
[Kimberly] How you doing, Matt?
You know what? I'm thinking
enchilada meets crab dip.
-Sounds amazing, actually. -[Matt] Thank you.
Growing up in Arizona, if you put
anything in a tortilla,
it's gonna taste delicious.
And I really wanna represent my home State
and do a south-western tostada with a lump crab and cucumber salad.
To have a successful tostada,
you have to have a crispy tortilla.
To build my sauce, I first sweat Thai peppers,
garlic and onions.
This sauce is luscious and cheesy.
Not to mention, very spicy.
[Nahika] I love these chilies, I work with them all the time.
The spice in this is the real deal.
So, I have the first Haitian-Caribbean food truck in Austin, Texas.
And within the first six months,
I kinda blew up. [chuckles]
-[Maneet] Nahika! -Yes?
What's the plan?
A play on Haitian pikliz, which is a spicy pickled slaw.
And I'm gonna serve that with a crab cake.
[Maneet] In general, most of the heat
of the pepper lies in the seeds.
-Yeah, -[Maneet] So, if you remove the seeds
you are reducing
the heat but you can enjoy
the beautiful floral quality that peppers have.
-Whoo. -[Ted] All right, chefs, 10 minutes on the clock.
[Amanda] The cucumbers in here,
they're the one cooling element
-in the basket. -[Fariyal] Exactly.
We want heat but we need balance.
[Matt] This little sort of,
vinaigrette meets
marinated tomatoes and cucumbers, that'll add a cooling element.
My mom is my inspiration for my cooking.
She raised my sister and I by herself.
Emotionally and financially.
So I wanna make my mom proud.
[Karan] Koliwada has a really nice crust to it.
So add some garbanzo flour,
rice flour, corn starch, salt and turmeric powder.
So all I need to do is get this fried up
till it's delicious goodness.
All the basket ingredients is in the fryer right now.
So I am pretty nervous about it.
[Kimberly] I'm making kinda, like, money bag dumplings.
And coated it with
the spicy cheese curl powder.
I want to deep fry these.
Hey, are you almost done with the deep dryer?
[Karan] Yeah, two more minutes, please.
[Kimberly] While I keep an eye out on the deep fryer,
I'm gonna use the cucumbers with the bird eye Thai chili
for, like, a spicy vinaigrette.
-Oh, my, God. Look at that. -Who has put...
[Amanda gasps]
[Fariyal] That's going to be very spicy.
[Amanda] Chef Kim has a blender with
a handful of Thai peppers in there.
Mind you, they're not de-seeded.
-[Amanda gasps] -[Fariyal] So we're getting
all of the capsaicin.
-[Maneet] That's a lot! -[Fariyal] We're getting it all.
How much time do we have?
Whoo, okay.
I want a crust
on the outside of the crab cake.
So I'm going to use the spicy cheese curls
as a bread crumb.
I start to form them as quickly as possible
and then I pan fry at my station.
Ugh.
[Ted] Five minutes to go, chefs.
Thank you.
Back. Coming through. Behind you.
I think he's done right now.
Are you almost done with the deep fryer?
Where'd he go?
-Are you almost done? -Yeah, two minutes.
Sorry. Back. Coming.
You said, "Two minutes" earlier.
There is a fryer pile-up happening right now.
Karan has his fritters in the fryer
-and, uh... -He's taking up the whole fryer.
-[Maneet] Yeah -[Kimberly] Oh, my, God.
[Kimberly] I need to cook my wontons.
But I'm running out of time.
-[Kimberly] No. -[oil crackling]
-Are you almost done? -Yeah, two minutes.
-Sorry. Back. Coming. -You said, "Two minutes" earlier.
There is a fryer pile-up happening right now.
Karan has his fritters in the fryer.
[Kimberly] Oh, my, God.
[Kimberly] I'm going to have to pivot.
[Amanda] Chef Kim is gonna actually
have to cook whatever she's making
in boiling water and that takes away texture.
[Nahika] Behind. Behind.
[Kimberly] So I knew boiling my dumplings
would make it very soggy, so I had some left-over
spicy cheese curls and I coated that again.
I'm hoping this will bring a crunch and little bit more flavor to the dumplings.
[Nahika] I was originally making
a pikliz concept but it's just not
coming out how I wanted it to.
So I'm gonna have to go with a cucumber salad.
Two minute warning chefs.
[Matt] I wanna coat my tortillas in my Thai bird chili sauce,
because I want them
to soak up that flavor.
This is the flaming hot Chopped episode.
If these Thai peppers are not bringing heat throughout,
I'm going home.
[Karan] Sorry. Back.
So my crab koliwada is finally
looking amazing. It's nice and crisp.
So I'm making raita for my koliwada, because it's gonna give a very nice
cooling and soothing effect with the spice of the crab.
[Ted] One minute to go. Get her done.
[Amanda] One minute.
[Matt] I really wanna finish this plate with the spicy cheese curls.
May I borrow your olive oil?
Go ahead.
The clock is ticking away, chefs.
Ten,
nine,
eight,
seven,
six,
five...
[all] Four,
three,
two, one!
[Ted] Time's up.
Please, step back.
Oh, my gosh.
Well done.
[Kimberly] I'm not really happy about the pivot,
but it worked out in a good way.
I made a mess but I think the flavor's good.
Chefs you have arrived at the chopping block.
In the appetizer basket you got,
Thai peppers, lump crab,
cucumbers and spicy cheese puffs.
Chef Nahika, what have you made?
Today I have made you a Thai chili and poblano crab cake
with a pickled cucumber salad.
Your deftness with handling
the heat level is prevalent on this dish. Very well done.
The crab cake is...
Delicious. But the spicy cheese curls,
added to the salt. Now it's...
A little bit over.
Okay.
You got great crispy, crunchy texture. I love texture.
And cucumbers are a great balance,
a great cooling effect here.
Thank you.
And it's a good thing Scott Conant's not here.
[all laugh]
[Amanda] Because these big,
hardy, raw, red onions are a lot.
I definitely agree with Amanda.
When you're using raw garnish,
knife cuts really matter.
The peppers and the onions,
they're a lot larger than I would like to eat.
However,
this crab cake is very delicious.
-Thank you. -[Fariyal] Yeah.
What's your motivation to compete with us?
Haiti needs a win.
I wanted people to be able to connect with our culture.
I got a super colorful mural on the food truck,
the music going and...
It's also made me feel at home.
Chef Nahika, thank you.
Chef Karan, what have you made?
So, in front of you we've got the crab koliwada
with the cucumber and dill raita with some fresh arugula.
I've travelled from New York to San Francisco,
to London to showcase the diversity
of Indian food.
You think of koliwada, you think of this,
you know, addictive,
deep fried, seafood,
uh, dish and that's what you've created over here.
The filling is...
Delicious.
You get all of the different flavors, you get the heat.
And I think you could have taken the heat level
-to another degree. -Oh.
[Maneet] Indian food is not about being afraid,
it's celebrate the boldness.
We want you to murder our judges with chilies.
-Absolutely. -[laughs]
I love the fact that you made the raita,
because you're introducing dairy.
Which is the best way to cure any
-pain from spice as you know. -Yeah.
[Amanda] I agree. Beautiful dish.
Perfect appetizer. I think you
highlighted the riddle of the basket.
Thank you so much.
Chef Karan, thank you.
Chef Matt, what have you made for us?
So today I made a Southwestern tostada
with a crab and cucumber salad.
I wouldn't have looked at that basket and thought tostada.
But I like that creativity.
-Thank you. -[Amanda] You layered flavors
-really nicely actually. -Thank you.
[Amanda] I'm getting the heat from the jalapeno,
I'm getting salty heat from the spicy cheese curls.
Mmm.
[Maneet] There is...
some serious yumminess that you've created.
Thank you.
To me the idea of the tostada is great
but I think it needed to be fried a little bit more.
I want that crunch and I literally had to...
-Pull it. -It's pretty chewy.
-Sure. -[Ted] All right.
And finally, Chef Kim.
Hi, so I made a Thai spicy dumpling
with a Thai chili vinaigrette.
I was actually planning on making, more, like, a crab Rangoon.
And, um, I ended up not having enough time to deep fry.
One of, um, the other chefs was using
the deep fryer and I had to improvise.
In the future,
you can always grab a pot and some oil,
-get it on the stove. -Yeah.
Yeah, definitely. [chuckles] Thanks.
Kim, I almost think that,
boiling as opposed to frying,
you did yourself a favor.
That chewiness is very addictive.
Specially with that creaminess that you get with the filling.
The sauce is fantastic.
We did ask for heat,
-you definitely got the heat. -[laughs]
I think Maneet is sweating.
I am sweating. Like, just look at this.
At first I was very concerned when I saw you put all those
Thai peppers in the blender for the vinaigrette.
-So I was terrified... -[chuckles]
...of the pain you were about to cause me.
But...
-creatively, I'm very impressed. -Thank you.
I'm the wimp. I'm not exactly Thai.
But I took a bigger bite of the sauce
I think. Go ahead, go ahead. Come on. Challenge.
-Listen. Give me... -[laughs]
It's a spicy challenge. It's supposed to be spicy.
I really like the heat on the dumpling.
I think what happened is, I'm reaching for that cooling element,
which is the cucumber and it is...
-covered in the sauce. -[sighs]
-[Amanda] The sauce is delicious, no doubt... -Thank you.
...but, there's too much of it.
But, presentation is kitschy and cool,
-for sure. -Thank you.
All right. The heat is on,
but just three of you can continue.
[Karan] This is a spice competition,
so I'm a little worried about the spice level in my dish.
I'm really happy with the flavors, so let's see.
I'm feeling super nervous. There's a lot of things that I missed.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Nahika, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Chef Nahika, incorporating the spicy cheese curls
in the crab cake made the crab cake too salty.
And also the haphazard cutting of the onions and pepper
led to a bite which was not wholesome.
Thank you so much for having me today.
Good luck everyone.
-[clapping] -Bring the heat, y'all.
[chuckles]
Just getting chosen to be here, to represent
flaming hot food... [chuckles]
...it's still my thing it's still what I do.
I highly encourage everyone to go out and try Haitian food.
[Ted] Chef Matt, Chef Kim, Chef Karan.
-Ready? -Let's do it.
I'll top up the heat this time.
Here is your flaming hot entree basket
Open it up!
Ooh.
Uh...
I knew they were gonna do this.
[Ted] And, as promised, we've turned up the heat here with a habanero pepper,
-boneless leg of lamb, -Boneless leg of lamb.
Oh-ho.
Oh boy, it's a big cut of meat.
-[Ted] Avocado. -Avocados.
[Kimberly] I don't like Avocados
and a lot of Asian food does not use Avocados.
What?
[Ted] And black pepper ice cream sandwiches.
-What are we supposed to do with this? -There's some spice on it.
Kinda excited, but also very nervous.
Especially with this ice cream.
Thirty minutes for this round.
Time starts now.
[judges cheering]
-Bring on the heat. -Bring on the spice.
[clapping]
It's so interesting in the first 10 seconds of the competition starting
-where the chefs' minds are, right. -[Fariyal] Yeah.
-[Maneet] Matt ran and grabbed a grinder. -[Fariyal] Yes.
[Maneet] And the first thing that Karan did was
-start opening the lamb. -[Fariyal] Yeah.
Judges, what would you do with this leg of lamb?
You can marinate it, tie it up and roast it, two to three hours,
-which we don't have. -[Fariyal laughs]
[Amanda] I love what Chef Matt is doing.
He's grabbed the grinder.
-With that tough cut of meat, that's the best way to do it. -[Maneet] Mmm-hmm.
[Karan] I use a lot of leg of lamb in my cooking.
We generally go low and slow.
So, 30 minutes is a challenge.
[Amanda] Chef Karan, how's it going down there?
[Karan] So, I'm making a lamb kebab.
-Ooh. -So, I've tenderized the lamb.
I'm gonna make a quick marinade.
I'm gonna saute potatoes in some lamb fat.
So, it's gonna be really nice.
I want to make sure that the habaneros really
provide the chili heat into this dish.
What Karan is doing is really fun.
-He's made a yogurt-based marinade and... -[Fariyal] Oh.
...It helps breaking down the kebabs.
[Fariyal] Yeah.
[Maneet] So, the heat in the Chopped kitchen is being turned up.
-Now we've gone to habanero. -Ooh.
-But, it's beautiful, because it's go these... -[Amanda] It's gorgeous.
-[Maneet] ...citrus notes, it's got the floral notes. -[Amanda] Yeah.
Matt already dropped some orecchiette pasta
-in his boiling water. -Oh.
Wow, okay, Matt has mirin, soya sauce, lemon, fish sauce, and chili paste,
just to name a few of the ingredients on his station.
Chef Matt, what's going on with your heat there?
You know what, I want to build heat, not just from the pepper,
I want to build by spicy ginger gochujang.
How does that go with orecchiette?
[Matt] I'm going pasta.
I'm making a lamb and habanero orecchiette ragu with tempura avocado.
Like it's all over, cheese, Italy, lamb, ginger.
-I see everything I don't even know what's going on. -[Fariyal] Too much going on.
[Matt] I know it seems crazy that I'm adding all of these ingredients
but it needs that salty, it needs that heat.
[Amanda] I think if you're just gonna
-blow out our palates with spice... -[Fariyal] Mmm-hmm.
...you might be on the chopping block.
[speaking indistinctly]
[Amanda] All right. Chef Kim, how are you doing down there?
[Kimberly] I'm actually also doing a pasta, but more of a like a
Thai style, like homemade curry paste,
with some noodles, bell peppers.
I'm having a little deja vu. I see a lot of chilies in that blender again.
[Kimberly chuckles]
-[Amanda] Please, use restraint. -[Kimberly] I'll try to.
I added avocado into my curry paste with the habanero chili
to make it look more creamier and not as spicy as well.
[Ted] Chefs, 15 minutes left.
[Karan] So, every kebab needs a chutney.
Chutney is gonna provide a very soothing effect on the palate.
[Fariyal] So this ginger molasses cookies
stuffed with vanilla ice cream and then
rolled in black pepper and cayenne.
[Maneet] It's delicious.
Yeah, I say eighty-six the cookie and just use the ice cream.
[Matt] This ice cream is going into my sauce.
I know that this lamb needs that sweet heat flavor.
Habanero sandwiched lamb.
I have three basket ingredients in here.
It's either gonna make me or break me.
[Kimberly] Lamb is not really common in Thai cooking.
I'm just gonna treat it like pork
and marinate it with some of the curry paste.
I added my lamb to the wok
with some coconut milk and the rest of my curry paste.
[Ted] Five minutes to go, chefs.
-[Maneet] Can you smell this? -The spice right?
-Oh, I didn't get it yet. -We're starting to cough, okay.
-[judge clears throat] -[judge coughs]
[Amanda] It's really hard to breathe it in.
It feels like we're eating it right now.
I noticed people starting to cough.
[coughs]
I was just like...
I'm not coughing. I'm just used to this.
[Karan] I'm really worried if the lamb is even cooking or not.
Let's put it in the oven.
I'm just praying that the lamb cooks on time.
[Matt] I really want to fry this avocado
because it's gonna add a crunchy element.
[sizzles]
[Kimberly] This dish needs some sugar so,
the ice cream will definitely bring that to the dish.
Chefs, less than two minutes left!
[Ted] Holy Toledo.
Just schvitzing over here.
-Come on, come on, come on we got this. -[Amanda] Down to the wire.
So, we're seeing both Chef Matt and Chef Kim frying egg for their dish.
[Ted] The clock is ticking away, chefs.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Time's up. Please step back.
[coughs]
[Matt] You know, I feel super confident in my dish,
but you never know, the other competitors' dishes look great.
[Karan] This round I've definitely put the spice up but,
I'm a little worried about the lamb...
[Matt] All the other chefs are competition.
This is like, Hurricane Chopped.
And so, to me it would be unwise to
really sort of doubt anybody.
Chefs, we challenged you to make main dishes with
habanero peppers,
boneless leg of lamb,
avocado
and black pepper ice cream sandwiches.
Chef Matt, what have you made for us?
Chefs, today you have
a habanero and lamb ragu with tempura avocado,
and if you would kindly just crack that egg yolk and
mix that sucker in, I'd really appreciate it.
I would love that.
Chef Matt, first thing you did was grab the meat grinder
and I was like, "Yes."
I thought that was very intelligent of you to do.
And then I saw you grabbing all these different ingredients.
I was a little concerned where we were going with this.
But, this sauce...
-I could just eat this all day. It's... -[Matt] Thank you so much.
-...so delicious. -Thank you.
I mean there are so many weird little notes of flavor in here.
You want to keep going back for another bite
-to find more of what is going on. -[Matt] Thank you.
I like the addition of the egg.
The richness of the yolk, it cuts the heat,
-and there is heat in this. -Thank you.
The avocado fritters are a great idea conceptually,
-but I think they get lost on this plate. -Yep.
Chef Matt, thank you.
Chef Kim, tell us what you've made for us.
So today, I made
a Thai style lamb curry pasta.
And on the side is actually the curry paste itself.
So, if you want to make the dish a little bit more spicier...
My grandma actually taught me how to make this homemade curry paste.
Gotta love grandma.
How do you think your grandma would feel about you
-storing your ice cream into her curry sauce? -[Maneet laughing]
-I think she'll be very confused. -[laughs]
-Such delicious flavors. -Thank you.
And the fact that you made a curry paste
from scratch in such a short time is amazing.
It is on the spicy side
but it's not bothering me that much.
I have a lot of different cut sizes of meat,
so, obviously they didn't get cooked the same.
But, I love the fact that you used sweet peppers in here,
because now we're not just eating the spicy chili peppers,
however, my mouth is on fire, just from the pasta itself. [laughs]
I think it's a little bit excessive to use that many habaneros.
I had a small-- [chuckles]
Amanda, are you okay?
-[both laughing] -Could we get some milk.
I'm just warm all over right now.
-[Fariyal] Yeah, we're all sweating. -Wow.
I'm on fire, in a good way.
I really do feel like it's just right.
I mean if you're asked to do something with habanero,
we're gonna have heat, right.
But... [laughs] if that was avocado cream,
that would really be a great way to get a cooling element.
All right. Chef Kim, thank you.
-Chef Karan. -So, I've made
a marinated lamb kebab with some lamb fat potatoes
and an avocado chutney on the side.
Lamb fat potatoes you said.
-[Karan] Yeah. -Okay.
Chef, this avocado is fantastic.
The sweetness, the fattiness, creaminess, it really works in here,
especially with those potatoes sitting on top of it,
lot of heat coming through.
[Fariyal] With the lamb,
I think you could've gone a little bit higher on that grill pan
because it's very chewy for me.
So, mine is completely raw.
Right, it's not even rare.
I wish that it was cooked through and through because with this marinade,
I can see this being a spectacular dish.
And when you put the potatoes in the water,
the water wasn't seasoned enough.
But, we asked you to bring the heat and
-boy, did you bring the heat. -[Karan chuckles]
You took the habanero to the edge with the potatoes and it works.
Thank you so much.
The lamb in my dish was a little undercooked.
Apart from that I think the flavors were spot on.
And if that can pull me through, I'll be very happy.
The judges' critique were definitely the mistakes I knew I kinda made.
I kinda wish when I was cutting the lamb, I cut it more evenly.
So, whose dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Karan, you've been chopped.
Judges.
Chef Karan, the lamb which is the basket ingredient was raw,
and the potatoes were under seasoned.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's been an absolute honor to cook for you.
Very well done.
I feel gutted, but,
I did what I did and I'm very proud of the flavors that I presented.
Definitely, I'm gonna make my mark
on the Indian food scene in the States.
[Matt] Cooking in the Chopped kitchen is like climbing Mount Everest.
I've made it two-thirds of the way there, but I still have a last leg to go.
[Ted] Chef Kim, Chef Matt.
This final set of ingredients will seal the deal.
Check 'em out.
Mmm.
Ooh...
We got, is that ghost pepper or...
[Ted] And it's the ghost pepper,
that's more than a million heat units on the Scoville Scale.
That ghost pepper, that's gonna be wicked spicy.
You also must incorporate
-passion fruit... -[Matt] Passion fruit.
Some passion fruit.
[Ted] ...plantains...
What is this?
[Ted] ...and super spicy citrus soda into your desserts.
This is a good ingredient.
[Ted] Your last 30 minutes in the Chopped kitchen
begins now.
-[Amanda] Let's go. -[Maneet] Go, go, go.
-You got this! -[Amanda] Sweet and spicy!
Sweet and spicy.
Judges, we've given them one of the hottest peppers
in the world, the ghost pepper.
I'm scared.
[Maneet] The interesting part about ghost pepper
is that apparently it is used
in the hand grenades in the Indian Army.
[Amanda] Oh my God.
[Maneet] The way they should be using ghost pepper
is to infuse it in something like make a sugar syrup
with ghost pepper in it,
-use the flavor of it. -I agree.
-[Fariyal] Yes. -Otherwise, it's going to be too aggressive.
Ghost peppers. Ho-- Way too hot for me.
I'm not trying to like, take a trip to the hospital.
I am making chocolate ghost pepper souffle with macerated tropical fruit.
In a souffle you need the egg whites because
that's the reason that the souffle rises.
Souffles you know, you really can get it done in like, nine to 14.
Which means that making the souffle is possible in 30 minutes.
-[Maneet] Matt, I think he's making a souffle. -[Amanda gasps]
That's a lot. Oh my God.
-[Fariyal] Oh, the peppers? -I'm so sorry guys.
-Did you see that? -I just watched Matt
brunoise a whole bunch of ghost pepper and put it into a bowl.
[Matt] I decided to use one and a half
diced ghost peppers, and that's because
chocolate really needs a lot of heat, especially when it bakes.
-[Amanda] Okay, let's do the math -Right.
How many jalapenos do you want in your dessert?
Hundred, 25, 75, 65.
So, I mean I think if you shaved off like an
-eighth, a sixteenth of that ghost pepper... -[Fariyal] Honestly.
-That would be enough. -[Fariyal] More than enough.
The plantain, the starch will be a really
helpful thing in quelling the heat.
[Amanda] They have to either be fried twice or they have to be mashed.
They can't just open them and use them like a banana.
[Kim grunting]
Kim, how are you doing, my friend?
Dessert is not my best thing,
but I'm gonna see how it goes.
Fried bananas is a typical Thai dessert.
So, I'm gonna do what I normally do bananas, but with plantains.
I'm making fried plantains with graham cracker and ghost pepper crumb.
[Amanda] Last round, Chef Kim really went hard
-with the habaneros. -Yeah.
[Amanda] So, I really wanna take away
-all but one of her ghost peppers. -[Fariyal laughs]
[Kimberly] If I win the $10,000, I want to use that money to
travel throughout Thailand and learn how to make
really well-known local dishes from local people.
I want to film it for YouTube so other people can learn how to make these dishes too.
[Ted] 15 minutes to go!
[Matt] Thank you.
-Yo, home skillet. -Awesome.
-Cheers to making it to dessert. -Cheers.
-Cheers ladies. -It's super spicy.
As soon as you taste it, you can feel the pepper in your nose.
This is actually delicious.
It's basically orange soda with cayenne.
[Matt] I'm making the passion fruit and the super spicy citrus soda,
the stars of my macerated tropical fruit.
[Kimberly] Right behind you.
My plantain has come out perfectly.
[Matt] I quickly get them chopped and mashed and then add them
in with my passion fruit, orange and pineapple.
[Ted] All right Chefs, 10 minutes on the clock.
[Amanda] Something smells good in here.
But also, I haven't eaten any ghost peppers at all.
And my upper lip feels a little spicy right now.
Just from it circulating in the air.
[Amanda] Seriously.
[Maneet] When you think of chilies, the first thing
you think of are tropical flavors.
-And to be given passion fruit, which is so incredible. -Yes. It's such a gem.
[Kimberly] I know that passion fruit has a sour taste to it,
so I'm gonna use it for a sauce for my fruit salad.
I add orange juice and the soda,
some Greek yogurt and honey into the blender.
And I add some chopped ghost peppers.
[Maneet] She has used
two ghost peppers.
Two? Oh, my God.
[Maneet] Ghost pepper is called Bhut Jolokia.
Which literally means, you have glimpsed the ghost.
-What? -[Maneet] Let's see if we survive.
-I would like to not become a ghost today. -[Maneet] I know.
It was nice knowing you guys. Adios.
Oh, no.
Five minutes to go, chefs.
[Maneet] Kim has used
two ghost peppers.
[Amanda] Two?
Chef Kim, are you balancing the flavor?
Uh, yes I am.
So, adding a little bit, like, condensed milk
so it's a little bit sweeter into them.
Okay.
[Kimberly] I'm gonna make a sauce for my plantains.
I combined sweet and condensed milk, ghost peppers and some strawberries.
I realized I added ghost peppers into all of my components.
I'm hoping it's not gonna be too spicy.
I have breaking news right now.
[Amanda] Yes?
[Maneet] The count has gone up to six ghost peppers.
While Matt has used two.
It's not in my contract.
[Matt] My souffles are still in the oven and it's critical that I cook them perfectly.
I'm so anxious for him right now.
When he opens that oven, anything could happen.
One minute on the clock, chefs.
[Matt] Yeah baby.
[Fariyal] Well, Chef Matt, just pulled his souffles out of the oven
-and they look pretty damn good to me. -Yeah.
[Amanda] But they could deflate.
[Fariyal] Come one Chefs, you got this. Wrap it up!
Wrap it up! Last minute touches!
[Ted] The clock is ticking away, chefs.
-[Fariyal] Everything should be completed and on the plate. -[Ted] Ten, nine...
-Let's go Kim, let's go Matt, you got this. -[Ted] ...eight, seven,
six, five four, three, two, one.
Time's up, please step back.
You did it.
Please don't kill us.
[Amanda] I thought we were gonna have a sweet ending
-but we're having a spicy ending. -[Fariyal] Okay.
This is going to end in tears.
-It's been great, it's been great. -Ours, ours.
[laughing]
[Matt] I'm not thinking about the money.
I want to demonstrate skill and impress
not just the judges but everybody that's watching.
Chef Kim and Chef Matt, we dialed the heat way up
for the dessert round and gave you ghost peppers.
Plus passion fruit, plantains and super spicy citrus soda.
Chef Matt.
I have made for you
a dark chocolate and ghost pepper souffle with macerated tropical fruit.
Okay.
I actually incorporate peppers into...
-You're waiting for Maneet? -I'm waiting for Maneet.
Yes.
Technically, this is such a sound souffle.
It's got this wonderful combination of airy but denseness
and that fudginess, chocolate and spice that's a marriage made in heaven.
But this is too much of ghost pepper.
I've had two bites and for me, that's as far as I could go.
But the macerated passion fruit in this tropical fruit...
[Matt] Correct.
...is bringing all the cooling notes for me.
-Awesome, thank you. -[Fariyal] Yeah.
I have to commend you for making a beautiful souffle.
I love the tropical fruit for sure.
My favorite thing is chocolate with spice.
I mean, it's just, sort of, like an ancestral thing.
-Yes. -[Amanda] You know, it makes sense.
And I can't eat another bite.
It's torture.
All right. And finally Chef Kim.
Judges, what I made for you guys is fried plantains
with a fruit salad parfait.
So, where do we find the ghost pepper?
Um, everything you eat actually.
Okay, why did you put ghost pepper in every element of this dish?
I, kind of, lost track of time and I put it in everything.
By having ghost pepper in every element you're challenging us...
-[Kimberly] Sorry. -[Amanda] ...the ones that have to eat it.
[Fariyal] It eats very well as a dessert.
Because you're giving us the fat and the sauce.
Which would've helped us with the pain of the ghost peppers.
But you put ghost peppers in there too.
So, there's nowhere I can turn to on this plate for some relief.
I made a bite for you.
[Kimberly] Okay.
Is it super spicy, right?
-You tell me. -[Kimberly] Okay.
I think both of you got carried away with the ghost pepper.
[Ted] We'll name a champ soon.
Thank you, Chefs.
-Thank you. -Thank you so much
[Amanda] Thank you.
Judges, how did these two chefs handle the heat?
Whew, how did we handle the heat?
I'm still burning.
I can't hear you, my ears are ringing.
Especially from that last round, the dessert.
Dessert's a wash.
I mean, I'm heartbroken to sit
in front of a chocolate souffle and not be able eat it.
[Fariyal] Right.
Matt started off really strong
with that lump crab meat with just the right amount of Thai chili.
[Fariyal] He presented a tostada and then dipped it in sauce.
It soaked up all the juices from the lump crab.
So, we couldn't even eat it that well.
Yeah, and Chef Kim,
- she presented us with these crab dumplings. -[Fariyal] Right.
[Amanda] And they're coated in the spicy cheese curls.
-I just wanted to pop those in my mouth. -Right.
-But, Chef Kim, made a very spicy sauce. -[Fariyal] Right.
So, I do think Chef Kim brought a tiny bit more balance in her entree.
[Maneet] Mmm-hmm, I love the fact that she made curry paste from scratch.
[Amanda] Yeah, very impressive.
[Maneet] Very impressive.
-[Fariyal] Right. -[Maneet] On the other hand we have Chef Matt.
Who had so many technical moves.
-[Fariyal] Right. -And the amount of habanero that he used was perfect.
Because he took it to the edge.
I think this is going to be a really difficult decision.
Yeah.
[Kimberly] Me and Matt, we did both go a little bit
overboard on the ghost peppers.
It's just really up to the judges now.
[Matt] I feel like I put forth "A" level work every round
and I hope that the judges recognize that.
So, who's dish is on the chopping block?
Chef Kim, you've been chopped. Judges?
[Amanda] Chef Kim,
a flaming hot competition
was something you took very seriously.
In the first round, the sauce that you made was just way too hot.
In your entree round, you made a beautiful curry paste.
But again, it was a little too much heat.
And so, we had to chop you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for being here, chef.
-It was such a pleasure, yeah, thank you. -Pleasure to meet you.
[Kimberly] I might have overpowered on the spice level.
But at my restaurant, customers know that it's gonna be spicy.
So, I'm definitely not gonna tone down my spice level any time soon.
And that means, Chef Matt Jordan, you are the Chopped champion.
You've won $10,000.
Congratulations.
Yes! Thank you so much!
-Congratulations. -Whoo!
Thank you so much.
I'm so grateful.
-And the money doesn't hurt either. -[Fariyal] Right.
[Matt] That $10,000 is going into my savings account
to sit there and I'm going to look at it and let it make me feel good.