People often don’t believe you can make a dish with habaneros that won’t rip your lips off. But the pepper has such a nice flavour. Another way to work with the habanero is to cut it in half and hull it out with your knife or a spoon, removing the whitish membrane and the seeds. The membrane and seeds are where a majority of the heat is.

I like a strong chili taste, but it’s easy to back off by one tablespoon. Also if you were using American style chili powder (which can have all kinds of different spices in it) the flavour can get away from you if you use to much of it. When I make this for myself I’m actually starting with whole dried red New Mexico chilies I grew in my garden two years back. Your mom was quite right about the cayenne, though. Purely optional. The theory was that the deep, distinct flavour of the cayenne would complement the fruity flavour of the habanero, but to be honest, the result varies every time I’ve cooked this. Next time I do this I might just stick with the chilies, the habanero and the peppercorns, see what happens.

Chili always tastes better the next day. And the next. And the next :)