72 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • MAY 2, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
As the Culinary King of Queens, I’m so very fortunate to live in the most diverse and delicious destination in all of New York
City. And I’m even luckier to be a Tastemaker for the World’s Fare, a celebration of global cuisine and culture, which will
be held on May 18 and 19 at Citi Field. In the weeks leading up to the Fare I’ll be profiling some of my favorite vendors from
Queens and beyond. Today, a look at Silly Chilly Dumplings, the brainchild of Bangladeshi-born culinary entrepreneur
Sufia Hossain, who now resides in the Bangladeshi enclave of Jamaica, Queens — which some have dubbed Bangla City.
Like many of my favorite
food businesses, Sufia Hossain’s
Silly Chilly Dumplings
all started with a dream and
passion, a vision of winning
acclaim for producing “the
hottest of the hot sauces,”
coupled with a passion for the
spicy palate of South Asian
cuisine that she grew up
with.
In between long hours
working in the fashion industry,
Hossain set out to
achieve her dream. At first,
she couldn’t tell different varieties
of habanero peppers
apart.
“Hot was simply hot, and
my taste buds were not accustomed
to the differences in flavor
and spice,” she recalls.
After months and months
of experimentation and research,
the budding chef
achieved success in 2016 and
created three sauces — Habanero
(Super Duper Hot), Serrano
and Chipotle (Smoky
Hot), and Fresh Mango and
Sweet Peppers (Mild) — using
peppers sourced from
farmers in New Jersey. Unlike
many other hot sauces
on the market, Hossain’s
creations avoid the traditional
marketing machismo
of skulls, flames, and other
extreme imagery, instead
opting for sketch of a fashionable
young woman with
a chihuahua and the slogan
“Be a Silly Chilly.”
Despite her lighthearted
approach to the hot sauce
game, Hossain means business:
these days, Silly
Chilly can be found in more
than 50 stores in New York
City, including Manhattan’s
famous spice merchant Kalustyan’s,
Brooklyn’s hipster
butcher shop The Meat
19
Hook, and Natural Frontier
in Queens.
Last year, Hossain created
Silly Chilly Dumplings, taking
much the same obsessive
approach that led to the development
of her sauces: she
stayed in her apartment for a
week and made 3,000 dumplings
until she had perfected
five varieties: chicken, red
cabbage, potato, grasshopper,
and black ant.
“I am obsessed with dumplings.
I sometimes dream
about dumplings,” she says
with a laugh.
The nine spices used to season
Hossain’s dumplings include
those used in her mother’s
homestyle Bangladeshi
cooking — turmeric, cumin,
and chili — as well as such international
flavors as Turkish
sumac and Chinese coriander.
As for the insects, Hossain
says she was inspired by
the fact that, “Insects are the
future of food,” and a trek in
Thailand, where she got lost
in the mountains and subsisted
on grasshoppers.
“I was scared, hungry,
thirsty. Grasshoppers
saved my life.”
Hossain’s next
hot sauce will
be named Bangla
City, after
her 6-year-old
nephew’s nickname
for the
Bangl adeshi
enclave located
on 169th Street
and Hillside Avenue
in Jamaica. She’s even traveling
to Bangladesh to source
the pepper, whose name will
remain a secret until she releases
the sauce, although she
did divulge that it will be a
green pepper.
Hossain says she’s proud
to participate in an event that
showcases “the best of the
best food vendors coming together
and celebrating food
and their craft with people
who appreciate food and
art from all over the
world.”
Joe DiStefano
is a Queens-based
food writer, culinary
tour guide,
and author of
the bestselling
guidebook “111
Places in Queens
That You Must Not
Miss.”
Stop by Silly Chilly Dumplings
at the World’s Fare at
Citi Field (123-01 Roosevelt
Ave. in Queens, https://theworldsfare.
nyc) on May 18
and 19 from 12 to 8 p.m. Tickets
from $19 to $199 (children
under 10, $5).
theworldSfare.nyc
100+ Global CuIsines
International
Beer Garden
Music, Dance,
Art & More
CITI FIELD
MAY 18 & 19, 2019
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