Hot enough for you? 5 spicy dishes from around the globe and where to find them in Southwest Florida

Hot weather calls for spicy foods. 

Sounds sticky, we know. But think about it. 

The regions known for fiery cuisine — India, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, much of Africa, the Caribbean — are also known for their blistering temperatures. 

You're already dripping on the outside, might as well heat up the insides, too.

This combo actually has advantages. Spicy foods make you sweat, and sweating cools you off. This is, perhaps, why the Eating Powers That Be chose Thursday as National Hot & Spicy Food Day.

It's hot all over this country. Let's cool off by firing things up with five spicy dishes from around the globe and places to find them around Southwest Florida. 

Vindaloo

This outwardly Indian dish has roots in Portugal and deep ties to England. Often the spiciest curry available at an Indian restaurant, vindaloo started out far more innocently. The word is a corruption of the popular Portuguese dish carne de vinha d’alhos, a simple braise of meats marinated in garlic and white vinegar. When the dish came to India in the 15th century, along with the Portuguese, local cooks added local spices: tamarind, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom.

And then came the English. They're the ones who brought the heat by tossing an unholy amount of chilies into the dish when it made its way to Indian-style restaurants in the UK. On that side of the pond, vindaloo is the U.S. equivalent of hot wings, designed to create a little pain. If you'd like more heat, the Brits can do one better than vindaloo with a dish called phall. This wholly English creation is rarely eaten in India. As Curry Culture described phall, it's "a creation aimed at men (mainly) who want to prove they are 'hard' by eating it."

A few places to find vindaloo: 21 Spices, Naples; Ahana's Bombay Grill, Bonita Springs; I Love Curry, Naples; India's Grill, Fort Myers; India Palace, Bonita Springs; Le Indya, Naples; Masala Mantra, Cape Coral; Passage to India, North Naples; Spice Club, San Carlos Park

Find phall: Le Indya, Naples; India's Grill, Fort Myers; Spice Club, San Carlos Park

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Jerk 

With roots in the Caribbean's indigenous Taino tribe as well as the Maroons, people who escaped British enslavement for life in the rugged mountains of Jamaica, jerk is a purely Jamaican dish. Much like the culinary traditions born from U.S. slavery — barbecue, fried chicken — jerk is a means of turning cheap, tough cuts of meat into something not only edible but delicious. Historians believe the original jerked meat wasn't chicken but wild boar hunted by the Maroons. They'd season the meat with allspice berries, salt and bird peppers, according to Smithsonian Magazine, wrap it in pepper-elder leaves and cook it in underground pits. This dried the meat so it could be stored for future use — much like jerky. In the Jamaica of today, jerk is a way of life, served in school cafeterias and high-end restaurants. It's a dish that's spread throughout the globe, following the Jamaican diaspora. Modern recipes often call for garlic, thyme and fiery Scotch bonnet peppers, as well as the traditional allspice. 

Find it: Caribbean Island Restaurant, Naples; Irie I Jamaican Cafe, Fort Myers; Good 2 Go West Indian Market, Lehigh Acres; Island Spicez, Fort Myers; M & A Caribbean Restaurant, Cape Coral; Spice Caribbean Bar & Grille, Fort Myers

FROM 2018:At Spice Caribbean Grille in Fort Myers, smoke and magic — JLB review

Yam neua

This cool dish of grilled beef and raw vegetables is made for life in the heat and humidity. They say there are as many yam neua recipes as there are cooks in Thailand. Like all Thai dishes, this one touches each part of your tongue: sweet, sour, salty, bitter — and hot. That heat comes via Thai bird chilies, which are blended with fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice to create a mouthwatering dressing for the hot-from-the-grill beef. Add in some lettuce, cucumber and tomato, maybe some leafy cilantro, maybe some mint, and you get a dish that's as cool and refreshing as it is tongue-tingling hot. This dish is similar to nam tok, or "waterfall beef," although nam tok usually gets its heat from dried chilies not fresh ones. 

Find it: Bangkok Thai, Fort Myers; Em-On's Thai Cafe, Naples; Lan Xang, Fort Myers; Siam Hut, Cape Coral; Orange Pepper (formerly Thai Gardens), south Fort Myers; Thai Nawa, Cape Coral; Thai Thai Sushi Bowl, Naples

FROM JLB:Bangkok Thai is just a Thai restaurant, yet it's so much more 

Bun bo Hue

Think of bun bo Hue as pho's spicier, richer Vietnamese cousin. Made with vermicelli noodles and beef stock, bun bo Hue departs from pho thanks to fermented shrimp paste, sugar and chili oil, which gives the soup its signature thrum of heat. According to Chowhound, traditional bun bo Hue is often made with thicker, more spaghetti-like rice noodles. It can be topped with cubes of congealed pig’s blood and sliced banana blossom, as well as traditional pho accompaniments: lime wedges, onion, Thai basil. The "bun" and "bo" parts of the name refer respectively to the dish's rice noodles and beef. The "Hue" comes from Vietnam's former capital where the dish originated. 

Find it: B2U's Restaurant, North Fort Myers; Lan Xang, Fort Myers; Noodle Saigon, Naples; Pho 99, Fort Myers; Pho Bamboo, Fort Myers; Pho Bowl, south Fort Myers; Saigon Paris Bistro, south Fort Myers; Viet Village, south Fort Myers

ASK JLB:Restaurants serving Asian noodle soups in Fort Myers? 

Aji verde

This classic Peruvian sauce isn't the most fiery thing on this list, but whew is it delicious. A blend of lime juice, cilantro, Peruvian aji amarillo peppers, garlic and mayonnaise, this nuanced dressing is perfect with rotisserie chicken, grilled meats, seafood or just a generic tortilla chip. We've even seen it on platters of crudites. Aji sauces of various styles and spice levels can be found throughout the Andean region, from Colombia south to Chile. In the U.S., cooks often substitute jalapeno or serrano peppers for the hard-to-find aji amarillos. While you can taste this sauce at almost any local Peruvian restaurant, of which we are blessed with several, we figured why not make it at home? (And eat it on everything!)

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Recipe: Aji Verde

Adapted from cookieandkate.com

Ingredients

½ cup mayonnaise

2 cups lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves (light, thin stems are fine)

2 tablespoons of aji amarillo paste or 2 medium jalapenos, seeds and membranes removed and reserved

2 cloves garlic

⅓ cup grated Cotija cheese or queso fresco

1 tablespoon lime juice

¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

Add all of the ingredients to a food process or blender. Blend until the sauce is green and mostly smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. If it's too spicy, blend in olive oil. If it lacks spice, add the reserved jalapeno seeds or more aji amarillo paste and blend more. 

Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. 

Yields: 1¼ cups