# Left my home town of Huntly, # headin' out in the cold. From the sunny north to the wild south, NZ is overflowing with breathtaking backdrops, heavenly harvests and a whole lot of fabulous foodies. So jump on board with us as we hang out with the locals, wrangle some wildlife and feast our way around this magnificent country. Come on, Toppy. We got people to meet and food to eat. Yee-hah! # Nga iwi e. # I'm just a local farmhand... # This week we spice up our lives with a Sichuan food frenzy. It's a tongue-numbing, life-changing experience. Then fresh from the garden, turmeric takes centre stage as one of the healthiest spices in the world. And one of the tastiest. But first up, we're in the Far North. Clint and Libby Meyer reckon the key to a spicy life is keeping it simple. Raising their family in the isolated hills of the Hokianga means that they can concentrate on growing not only amazing kids but also on breeding and growing the chillies for their award-winning Fire Dragon Chilli sauce. Lynda's gonna have a crack at eating the world's hottest chilli, and I get to hang out with the world's cutest kid. We are in the chilli jungle. Clint, these are the hottest in the world, some of these? Yeah, ghost chillies, Trinidad scorpions, Brazilian ghosts, scorpion morugas and Carolina Reapers ` the world's hottest chilli at the moment. There's a good one. That looks like death warmed up. That is the hottest chilli in the world right now. And what's the hottest part of the chilli? Uh, it's basically the placenta, which the seeds are wrapped around. Have you eaten one of them? Once. Yeah? Yeah. Want to try it again? Uh, nah, not really. BOTH LAUGH OK. I don't know who's more nervous ` you or me here. (EXHALES, CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY) I'm about to bite into the hottest chilli in the world now, and I hope to see you real soon. It's just the little tip where the stinger comes out. That should be the most mild part of the chilli. That's the easy bit. That's the mild end. OK, we'll go for a bit. (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) What? (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) Who's your favourite chicken? Uh,... Crispy. Crispy?! That's a beautiful name for a chicken. MEXICAN GUITAR MUSIC OK. That didn't have any adverse affect on me at all ` no heat or anything like that. But it was just a tiny little bite. I'm going deeper in. MUSIC CONTINUES OK, I'm starting to feel some heat. I'm starting to feel some... (COUGHS) some serious heat now. Oh! (COUGHS) LIGHT-HEARTED MUSIC (LAUGHS) That's fun, isn't it? There you go. Can you see the chickens from here, Hope? Yeah. You can, eh? Oh! OK, my whole mouth is on fi... fire, man. Jesus! Argh! So, when you're doing a competition, you've got to hold this for a long time, eh? We'll we've had heats that have gone for two hours, and you're not allowed to drink, you're not allowed to leave the table, not allowed to go to the toilet. What's their names? Uh, Abby and Chickpea. As you can see, it's taking quite a while to get to the eggs, but we'll get there, won't we, darling? We'll get there. Now it's really kicking in. It's gone right through my whole mouth. I'm ha` starting... (COUGHS) starting to feel like I can't br` breathe. (SPITS) Spitting doesn't help. Not really. Yoghurt or milk will, though, if you wanna go for that. Chook, chook, chook, chook. Come on. Here they come. Chook, chook, chook. How many? Four. Four altogether? Here. Righty-oh, darling. I tell you what we'll do. We'll just put one egg in, cos you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. Ain't that right? (COUGHS) It's` It's actually getting hotter and hotter and hotter. Yeah, it's a builder. It takes a while to kick, and then it, sort of, wow... (SPITS) OK, I got to go with the yoghurt. So, yeah, that was the mild end of the chilli. If you got into that placenta in the seeds, you'd probably be another, wow... What happens... when it comes out the other end, Clint? Well, yeah, burns three times ` in the mouth, in the stomach and then, yeah, the next morning, the next day. The burning going in is pretty intense, but I'm... dreading the burning going out. (LAUGHS) So, what have we got in here? We've got some home-grown garlic and onion cooking up there, sizzling away in coconut oil. Like coconut oil, do you? Absolutely. It doesn't change to a trans fat, you see. What else have we got to put in here? 2 teaspoons of turmeric. Sweet. Couple of tablespoons of coriander there. And one of our cumin. Stir it round until you can really smell the spices. Wish we had smell TV right now, cos it does smell absolutely amazing. I hear you did a bit of overseas... exploring too. Jaunting, yeah. Just been backpacking with a good friend in Mongolia, and went down, and we were, sort of, recovering in Beijing and met Clint there and just never stopped talking after that. And we still never stopped talking. Wow, what a beautiful story. We had a Beijing fling. A Beijing fling? Yeah. Whoo-hoo! LAUGHS: Yeah. Oh, it looks like we're almost there, doesn't it? OK, what's our next ingredient? Right, so, next, we put in tomato sauce ` good old ketchup. A couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. We'll put in the lentils ` good, healthy, vegetarian pulse there. What's next? Veggie stock. Oh yeah. Whoo-hoo! And then you just let it simmer away there for 30 to 40 minutes. What about these eggs? We'll put that in in the last 10 minutes. Righty-oh. Sounds good. What about a salad with that, Libby? I'm slowly coming down off the chilli. BOTH CHUCKLE When I was growing up, there wasn't too much hot sauce on the table. Or even garlic didn't used to be used much, did it? And, I mean, yeah, we, sort of, cook with that all the time now. I think the new generation don't really have any fear of the chilli, so they just, sort of, dig right into it. Make sure you get those on straight there. Pressure's on. So, the yellow sauce. Best hot sauce. And this one got second? That one got second, yeah. Yeah, we picked up nine trophies, I think, for the Mr Chilli Awards, and then we got a World Hot Sauce Award last year in Louisiana as well for the best extra-hot hot sauce in the world. What a wonderful place to come back to, eh? I wouldn't have asked for a better life, really, and it's how I want to bring up our children too ` good old-fashioned way. When Clint and I met, my dream was to live in a self-sustainable lifestyle, and Clint's became about chillies, and luckily those dreams, sort of, merged together quite nicely. And are you self-sufficient yet? Just about. I really was a little naive and thought I'd be able to do it all straight away and never go to a supermarket again, but it has taken about seven years to get it to this point. Might not be gardening, cos you might be protesting for a little bit longer now. Yeah, this is our other interest, for sure. We, um, are very concerned about the deep-sea drilling that they are planning on doing off the Hokianga Harbour here. There's a lot of poverty in Hokianga, and people, that's what they eat ` is their kai moana right out of the sea. And if there was a spill` I think if there was a spill, the whole of NZ would be affected. We're such a small country, anyway. Absolutely. I'm with you on that one. Yeah, good. It's not called deadly for nothing. Yeah, and then it was, sort of, you know, like a passion-fruity kind of taste. Jools, I ate the hottest chilli in the world. You did? Yeah. How was it? It was the hottest chilli in the world. BOTH LAUGH My mouth was on fire. Absolutely on fire. Were you, sort of, proud of yourself for doing it? Sort of was proud of myself, yes. Thanks. Wouldn't want to get above your station, though, would you? No. I've eaten the hottest chilli in the world, and now I'm going to try the hottest sauce in NZ. Dragon's Fury. < LIBBY: So, what do you think of that? Enjoy that? Is it hot, Lynda? ALL CHUCKLE It's hot, it's hot. It's got a bite. It's like it's kicked me right in the butt. Your dal's brilliant, darl. ALL CHUCKLE 1 Welcome back to Topp Country with Lorna and Mavis in the kitchen. Have we got a spicy treat for you? Yes, indeed, an old favourite ` curried eggs. Simply mix together curry powder, turmeric, egg yolk and mayonnaise. I like to use a piping bag. It makes a lovely swirl. And on top ` a lovely water lily tomato. And a little bit of creamed avocado. Simple and spicy. Mavis, not too much of that pepper, please. Plays havoc with my bowels. Shopping for ingredients in an Asian superstore like the Tai Ping Market in Dominion Road is not for the faint-hearted. You see, the more authentic the product, the less likely it is to have English on its packaging. To help us unlock the secrets of Sichuan cooking, we are being taken on a special tour by Tanah Dowdle and Freddie Sy of Gourmet Joy. TANAH: We're gonna lift the lid today and show you just how simple it really is. FREDDIE: That's right. Freddie is, like, a masterchef. He's just the most fabulous, fabulous cook. Thank you, thank you. Lynda, you and I are off to look for some spices. Well, you and I get the best part. We go off` We're gonna try little bits of street food. Ooh, I like that. They're handcooked here in the market, so you're gonna get to try chicken feet and chilli. OK, I'm out of here. ALL LAUGH FUNKY MUSIC Oh my goodness. This is my first chicken foot I've ever had in my entire life. Very nice. Very good. Beautiful. Good. Thank you. I'll be able to chew on that all day. Now, Lynda, come on through, and I'm gonna show you the spice aisle. I've got a little challenge for you. I think I'm gonna leave you to look for the five-spice powder in this aisle. OK, righty-oh. Here we go. OK, what's that? This is Korean food. Kimchi. Fiery. And Koreans, on average, eat up to a kilo a week of kimchi. Wow. What about this one here? Oh, this is the tofu. Nothing in a packet here. You make it? Yeah. Handmade by you. Look at that. Beautiful. When you buy tofu out of a packet, it's completely different. One, two, three,... four, five, six, seven. OK, that's not it. Seven things on it. Here we go here. What's this one here? Here we go. There's five things on there, but there's an egg. I wonder if that counts. What about that one, Freddie? Is that a five-spice? Oh, close enough. OK, no, it wasn't... (LAUGHS) It's actually right beside it. OK. This is the symbol for five. Ah, there we go, there we go. The first one I picked up was the five-spice. How weird is that? Your intuition was correct. Oh! Very nice. Xiao long bao? Xiao long bao. Made with soup. Little bit of vinegar. Nice. Amazing that it's got soup inside. You just suck it out. Wow. Beautiful. That's my favourite, that one. When you eat it, the soup tries to get out of the dumpling. Yeah. (LAUGHS) I can't believe I'm eating all this glorious food in a supermarket. Yeah. That's what it's all about. You can have all these snacks, or you can take them home and then cook the vegetables and just present it. I usually hate shopping. This is` This is brilliant kind of shopping. We've only been here for about two minutes, and I'm already completely and utterly overwhelmed. I mean, look, how many soy sauces have we got here? (CHUCKLES) Well, to start off with, there are two types of soy sauce. Yeah. You've got the light soy sauce and the dark soy sauce. The light soy sauce is what you use for flavouring. It's saltier. While the dark soy sauce has got a bit more caramel, and it's used for colouring and braising. In Sichuan cooking, there are two types of spice. You've got ma, and you've got la. And ma is a numbing sensation; la is a spicy sensation. OK. So if someone tells you they're going to be feeding you mala, watch out. If my tongue and my, sort of, palate are numb, how am I going to taste the spices? Oh, don't worry. We'll have some beer to chug it down. OK. I promise. BOTH LAUGH We're gonna mix it all up. I'm gonna be numbed and spiced out of my nut today. I can feel it. So, there's all sorts of things in here that you can't get in a supermarket. Look at these. Aren't they fabulous? Wow. This is a little melon. Uh, lowers your blood sugar. Very very good for diabetes. They sort of look like a cucumber with the mumps. (LAUGHS) But they're good for you, apparently. Very good. Now, Lynda, have a look at this. (CHUCKLES) You're right. There's oodles and oodles and oodles of noodles. Today we will be using this type of wheat noodle, which has got a floury finish. It's actually a lot better, because the sauce clings on to it a lot more. OK. Grab another one, and let's get cooking. Time to make some dan dan noodles. This is our pork-and-chicken mixture. This will be topping our noodles. And one last thing is our five-spice powder that we got at the supermarket. That one there? That's the one. OK, we're going to make this very famous oil called la you oil. And it means a spicy red oil. So, I'm going to get you to assemble all the bits and pieces. OK. 2 tablespoons of fine chilli powder. OK, that is a lot of chilli. (LAUGHS) You're scaring me. We're not stopping there, baby. 2 tablespoons of the more flaky chilli. OK. Oh no, not more chillies! (LAUGHS) Now, look, this is just two chillies. OK. And my favourite ` star anise. Oh, you know, it reminds me of aniseed balls. Yeah. We used to buy them on the way home from school on the bus sometimes. Really lovely. Yeah. So, three of these. And soy sauce ` just a tablespoon. And, now, this is a Shaoxing cooking wine. Now, you could use sherry or whisky. But this gives it the genuine Chinese flavour. 1 tablespoon. Now, the last secret ingredient. This is optional. Dried shrimp. Are you sure that's not just some dust you found on the floor in the kitchen or something? This is the smallest treat I've ever had in my entire life, but she says they're good, so I'm gonna believe you, Tanah. Here we go. Delicious. Really tasty. So, now the hot oil. OK. I'm gonna show you a little trick. How do I know that the oil's hot enough? I just pop my little chopsticks in here. Oh, look, see? They're just bubbling around. Yeah, it is, yeah. Stand back, baby. Whoo! Whoo-hoo-hoo! Look at that. (LAUGHS) Unbelievable. So, Sichuan peppercorns now. I'd love for you to give it a try. See if you can feel that numbing sensation that makes Sichuan pepper what it is. (LAUGHS) My whole tongue has gone numb. (LAUGHS) I'm gonna have no pain from here to here shortly. (LAUGHS) Now, we need to make the dressing for our dan dan noodles. We'll be needing sesame paste ` similar to tahini. Yeah. So, add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce. Two more tablespoons of Chinkiang vinegar. It balances out the soy sauce so well. You think that you could make this for your partner and think, 'OK, things are gonna hotten up a bit'? I'm pretty sure he'll be showing you a bit of appreciation afterwards. (LAUGHS) I'd actually be quite useless right now because my tongue's numb. (LAUGHS) GUITAR MUSIC Look at that. Nice colour. Whoo-hoo! Yum! Now, we are having dan dan noodles, and, Lynda, I would love for you to assemble a little dish for us. OK, here we go. So, we've got our noodles, and now we're` Did you make any of this? I made it all. She made it all. > (SCOFFS) (LAUGHS) > I'm gonna put a little bit of this dressing all over it. A little sesame there. We're gonna put a little peanut, a little spring onion. Finally, Jools ` Sichuan pepper. OK. Now, this is the numbing spice. The ma. We're gonna finish it with our famous oil. Ooh. La you. ALL: La you! We made this. It's got three different types of chilli in it. Is that good, or do you want more? Uh, no, I'm going in. It's like the Chinese spaghetti bolognese. You got it. It's exactly what it's like. That's exactly what it is. It's the best Sichuan meal I've ever had. # There's a fire in my belly, and it's burning just for you. # I got not cash, and my bills are due. # But I'm gonna keep on singing this song. Ooh! # Let the fire burn on. # ALL CHEER 1 Here we are in paradise at The Russell Fransham subtropical nursery. Nestled in the Northland bush of Matapouri, landscape designer Russell and his partner, McGregor Smith, have created this magical wonderland. Specializing in exotic and subtropical plants, Russell and Mac also grow a range of exotic spices. BOTH: Mmm, spicy! What kind of spices do you grow? Galangal, turmeric. Fresh? Yeah, for eating, yeah, yeah. That's the way to go, is it? Bloody-oh, yeah. Get that stuff out of the packet, and no flavour. Once you've tried the fresh stuff,... ...you'll never go back. ...you'll never want to go back to the packets. I like that idea, cos there's always some in your drawer that've been there for, like, about two years. You think, 'Oh, that'll be all right.' It's when it's got old, dried moths in it. ALL LAUGH Remove the cobwebs. And legs. And legs! (LAUGHS) ALL LAUGH Hey, there's the weed-control officer, is it? Yes, she's been doing this for years. The only reason we've put up with her pooing on the deck. We don't like to kill anything that's done service for us. This was all grass and the odd tuft of tea tree. This is about 24, 25 years. Grew up on a farm, and we had a lake, and I always used to dream, 'Why don't we have the house on the lake?' And now, 60 years later, I'm doing it. (CHUCKLES) Come here, Jools. Wow, we're in the jungle. Rumble in the jungle, eh? (LAUGHS) She's hot, she's hot. Really hot in here. Yep, 40 degrees. Whoo-hoo. And what are you growing in here? What's to eat? Um, this is a bit of a cinnamon tree. Crush those up a bit. (SNIFFS) Have a` Have a whiff there. (SNIFFS) Yeah. Really good. Nice, eh? Just over here to the right, Jools, is lemongrass. Easy to grow in this country if you can keep it away from frost. Oh, yeah. It's sort of more lemony than lemon, isn't it? It sure is. Yeah, well, that's what we wanna hear. Well, let's look at some turmeric. There you go. Look at that. What a beautiful big thing. It's a big turmeric. Should we get in there and get one? Let's try this little plant. Righty-oh. Here it comes. Whoo-hoo! There it is. (CHUCKLES) Wow, look at that. Say, if I was going to have some fresh turmeric in my dinner tonight, how much would I need? I'd` I'd use one of those fingers. It actually` That one doesn't actually look like a finger, does it? BOTH LAUGH What can I say? BOTH LAUGH You know how to dig a hole, eh? Yes, I do. Good farmer's daughter. Yeah, giz a look at that. Perfect. Whoo-hoo! Galangal. There you go. That's not gonna fit in the spice drawer. (LAUGHS) It almost feels like we're in a foreign country. Yes, that's the idea. (CHUCKLES) This is a really interesting taro from South America. It was one of the staple crops of the Incas, and it's a monster. Innit? Look at that. If it was raining, you could get underneath this. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, and it's your dinner. What a beautiful thing. You look like you know what you're doing there, buddy. Yeah, I did my trade as a butcher... Oh, OK. ...over in Dargaville many years ago. And what's our fish today? Nothing out of the pond there, is it? (LAUGHS) No, not out of the pond, not out of the pond. It's, um, a bit of tarakihi. And that's just our plain old ginger? Yeah, just grate 'em. And I'll` I'll get on with the dill. It's very sharp that little thing. I'd better not get too close. My guitar-playing fingers don't want to be in the marinade. (CHUCKLES) I'm very excited about the turmeric. It's really subtle in flavour, eh. It's, um... Look how orange it is. Yeah, neat, eh? It's amazing. Yeah, yeah. Put that all over the fish. Yeah, throw your... Onion? ...all in there. Righty-oh. These are shallots. Is that right? Yeah. And the turmeric just looks absolutely amazing. If that was just a big old blob of powder in there, we wouldn't get that colour all the way through it, eh? No, no. If people want to have turmeric at home, they'll really have to get with it, though, aren't they? They're gonna have to` They're gonna have to be gardeners and cooks. They don't have to be damn gardeners, eh. It grows relatively simply, eh. Oh, OK. Yeah, yeah. You could chuck some in a bucket` Just put it in your veggie gar`? Loving it. What's next, buddy? Fish sauce ` stinkin' bloody stuff. It's not too bad. We're only putting 4 tablespoons in. Yeah. Or dessertspoons, weren't they? Yeah` He's go` He's going` He's getting adventurous. He's going further. He's just` He's abandoning the spoon and just tossing it in with a bucket. Yeah, rough as guts. (LAUGHS) It's in with your hands and mix her up. In with your hands? Yeah. No cuts on your hand? No, no. Don't want to see you snivelling. (LAUGHS) I tell you what, that's an amazing dash of colour right there. That's a bromeliad. That one's a Nidulariam. And it's a really vivid red ` loud and proud. Yeah. Bit like you. BOTH LAUGH Altogether, we've got about 500 to 600. 500 to 600? And Mac takes care of all of that. His business is the bromeliads. I do everything else. That's`? That's Mac's flower right there? Yes. I've got to go hands-off. Ooh. 'Don't touch my bromeliads.' (LAUGHS) Here is the galangal. OK. You get the idea of the smell. It's nice, eh? And very different. Oh, it's delicate. Yeah. That's the story. You don't have to have them in for very long? No, no. You're just giving that... You're infusing the oil. Yep, yep. Wow. It's really important that you know how to cook with these things, isn't it, because you could really mess them up. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) When did you meet Mac? About 15 years ago, 16 years ago. He was recovering from a knee injuring, and I was recovering from middle age. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, one of the things that I particularly, uh, liked about Mac was the fact that he had kids, and so did I. Yeah. How many kids have you got? I've got one daughter and one granddaughter. Yeah. And he's got four kids and two grandchildren. So, it's a beautiful, big, happy family up here? It is. And, in fact, Mac's wife often comes and visits and stays, so we have a very very nice home life. Is this Russell's favourite dish? He's a gannet. He'd eat anything, you know. BOTH LAUGH Well, it's bloody true. It looks beautiful, buddy. Nothing too fancy here, Jools. You've gotta remember I'm just a butcher. That looks absolutely amazing. Fresh turmeric, fresh galangal, fresh noodles and the fresh faces of our beautiful boys who made it for us. (LAUGHS) Here's to fresh chillies. Yeah! And I think I'll be cooking quite a bit of Asian at home if I can get those plants when I leave. (LAUGHS) All right, fill the boot. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers, eh. What a great day. Here's to fresh spice. All right, Jools, make sure that's nice and tight. There's bloody live turmeric on there. We don't want it getting away. Can't wait to get the spice garden in. Yeah, changed our lives, these spices. This could be the spice truck too. The Mahindra - an Indian truck, perfect spice truck. (CHUCKLES) Old Spice deodorant ` now, that's what I call hot. Always had meat and veg in my cooking pot. Spices, chilli, garlic ` there's so much more to choose. They've even got the zest of orange in my local booze. Don't get me wrong, I'll have a crack at anything you make. Once, at a fancy restaurant, I had a peppered steak. Ken, you've got to branch out, boy. Get your taste buds up to date. Have a spicy laksa or a vindaloo.