A Guide to the Best of Southern California : FOOD : Hot Snacks

THE JAPANESE HAVE DISCOVERED that people love their hot, zippy, sinus-clearing wasabi (the greenish horseradish-type root that accompanies sashimi and sushi) and are now making sizzling snacks with it. Less fattening than potato chips but just as addictive, these snacks include Roasted Hot Green Peas and Wasabi Arare.

The green peas are dried sweet peas coated with wasabi . Just roll your tongue over them; the combination of nutlike, mellow peas and pungent wasabi is a distinctive, habit-forming flavor.

If you like the peas, chances are you’ll also go for Wasabi Arare--crispy, white, crescent-shaped rice crackers that are marked by a bright-green dab of wasabi.

The hottest of all, from Pakistan: Ahmed Chilli Powder. This powdered chili is so hot and must be used so sparingly that a seven-ounce package of the stuff will last forever.

Hot Green Peas and Wasabi Arare are sold at Yaohan Market, Yaohan Plaza, 333 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles, (213) 687-6699. Ahmed Chilli Powder can be found at India Spices & Groceries, 5891 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles; (213) 931-4871.