Splitting hairs perhaps but, in Indian recipes, I have never been able to relate to:

The use of Chilli flakes & Cayenne together.

The frequent use of Cayenne - as opposed to Chillies.

The use of fresh & dried Chillies together.

Dried Chillies - specifically.

The use of red & green Chillies together.

16 Chillies in a recipe when 3 would send me up the wall.

PS I love to TASTE the food that I have so lovingly cooked, with maybe 5,10 or 15 spices!!

"The use of Chilli flakes & Cayenne together"; belive it or not, they seem to give different flavour and taste to some dishes. I do this too sometimes, not very often.

"The frequent use of Cayenne - as opposed to Chillies."; I don't follow this question :-(!

"The use of fresh & dried Chillies together"; they give different flavours

"Dried Chillies ? specifically"; I take it you mean dry whole chillies? Mostly used for ?tarka? or tempering, added to heated oil. This gives a distinctive, smoky aroma and they look good in a dish.

"The use of red & green Chillies together"; Different flavours and even tastes, if you want to split hair ;-)! Fresh chillies look good too, in a different way.

"16 Chillies in a recipe when 3 would send me up the wall"; 16 chillies in a portion for 4 people will send me up the wall too! LOL! This is the most difficult ingredient to describe in a recipe, because heat of chillies varies so much. The best thing to do is add only what you think is right for that amount. You know the heat of the chilli/cayenne you have and can judge the amount best. Always taste and adjust!

"PS I love to TASTE the food that I have so lovingly cooked, with maybe 5,10 or 15 spices!!"; Yes, isn?t it the most satisfying feeling when things come together nicely and you have a near perfect dish in front of you :-)!

mamta

There are many different chillies, chilli powders, types of chilli flakes etc and all have their own flavour and uses.

Its a bit like asking why do some people use Iceberg lettuce to make a salad and other use Kos, some even mix rocket and other leaves in... doesn't make any of it odd or wrong, its just that they have different flavours/textures/appearance etc and people desire those differences.

Steve

Tim,

the use of chillies can be confusing. Firstly, cayenne is just chilli powder, nothing special about it. The name came from the port (I think in Honduras) from where chillies were exported. Of course, being a generic trem, it also covers up nicely the origin of the chilli, I mean, which variety, even species!

In Indian cooking, chillies are generally used in two ways (though there are always exceptions!) Firstly, as a vegetable, which is usually the green chilli. When chopped and added raw to a dish (or even cooked in the dish) it adds a localised pungency, detected more on the front of the mouth and tongue. If added as powder or puree (usually red) then this develops a hotness over most of the mouth and throat. This is because, although we have receptors all over the mouth, the pungent element(capsaicin)is localised in the chilli fruit, whereas the powdered or pureed chilli will be extracted into the oil/ghee in the cooked dish, which is distributed all over the mouth.

So, although adding chopped chilli and puree/powdered chilli may seem overkill, they will have different effects on the overall 'mouth feel'.

In India, most of the chillies grown (about 250-300 varieties that I know of) are of one variety, the sanam. This is long and pointed, and about average pungency. What is becoming very 'de rigour' is the so called 'Kashmiri chilli', because it has little or no pungency, and is supposed to be very red. At the other end of the heat scale are the so-called naga chillies, which are nothing more than India/Bangladesh's attempt at marketing the 'lantern habanero'. BTW, the true Kashmiri chilli is neither non-pungent nor particularly red; the 'imposter' is grown in the Hubli district of Karnataka, where it is known as the Byadgi chilli, and easily recognised because it is very wrinkled when dry.

So, next time you use chillies, think what you want them to do for the dish, then how pungent you want them, horses for courses. Lastly, to be sure of a pure product, free of adulteration, I suggest you buy whole dried chillies, and powder them yourself, that way you may even have different ones with different pungencies.

"I suggest you buy whole dried chillies, and powder them yourself"

A word of caution here, grinding your c=own chillies is quite risky, they tend to get onto your hands, in your eyes and so on. So try only a lillte if you must, and see how it goes.

Lapis, thank you for a very detailed and informative piece on chillies. You don't happen to work in a farming college by any chance;-)?

Mamta

First, yes indeed Steve, but I see your ingredients as more readily identifiable than, say, powdered, flaked or dried Chillies. Clearly my taste buds are poorly educated! On the other hand, take black or green Peppercorns & there's a world of difference. Can never understand why green are so underused. So fragrant.

Lapis, a great spiel! Most helpful. Yes, I think I know what I want in a dish - it's trying to see what result the author was seeking that I find more difficult.

Strange thing is, no one seems to stock the 'typical' known heat Chilli around here. Had to settle for Birdseye recently & nearly died!!

Most Indian shops in UK do not name chilli types on their spice packets. They simply say;

Chilli powder

Chilli Powder (Mild)

Chilli powder (Hot)

Chilli powder (Extra Hot)

The supplier recommended on my recipes is quite good and will post them free for orders of over ?30.00.

Mamta

Mamta,

no I don't work in agronomics, maybe I should ;?)

Tim,

I agree with you on wondering what some cooks have in mind when designing (or just copying) a recipe. For me, after very lenghthy and often experimental work, I believe I can understand the rationle behind most recipes, though there are many where the intention is still rather 'vague'.

For example, it is usually obvious when to add certain spices, and in what form they need to be added.

To use the chilli as an example:

It is available fresh (green or red) dry (usually red) and powdered (again usually red). We use the chilli for various reasons. The obvious one is heat, and we could choose its pungency accordingly. However, extracting the pungency is not straightforward. The chemical (or group of chemicals) are only sparingly soluble in water, but much more so in oil/fat/ghee. Therefore we need to extract the chilli into oil/f/g, to provide us with a warm glow rather than a pungent 'bite'. To extract the fresh chilli, gently fry in oil until soft, then macerate with a hand blender. Do not add water at this stage. Mix this into the dish you are cooking, as long as the dish is still in the oil/f/g stage. The colour will also be extracted, as these chemicals are also very oil/f/g soluble. Also contained in the chilli is carbohydrate, which reacts with the meat protein to form deep roasted flavours and helps with browning, but only if little water is present. Lastly, chillies contain natural emulsifying agents, which help with amalgamating the oil/f/g and water components of the curry gravy, giving a very satisfying mouth feel.

Powdered chillies have to be extracted as well, but because the powder is finely divided, it can take place even though water may be present, but if the powder is added at the oil stage, it may burn, so it is best to add it later when there is sufficient water in the gravy, or make a paste with chilli and water (and other powdered spices)and carefully heat (bhuno) until the extraction is complete, though you might have to add more water if things get too hot.

Doing the oil extraction works for most spices, and if done correctly, will reduce the amount of spice needed to provide the corect level of flavour. Ever wondered why 'curries' taste better the day after? Apart from a 'clear nose', the spices have had more time to be extracted into the oil, the gravy can seem to be much hotter the day after, and this is why. HTH