This may sounds like an odd question, but what do you think Indian food would have been like before the introduction of chillies?

I am making a meal tomorrow and one of the people I am cooking for can't tolerate any chillies whatsoever...hence it got me thinking about the above question.

Sid

My parents were not fond of chillies. In fact, my mum hardly ever put chillies in anything. She used to be a great vegetarian cook, always trying and cooking superb new dishes. She is 91 now. Living with my brother's family, she has finally learnt to eat a little bit of chillies!

You can cook great food without chillies. Add chillies to everything after you have taken a portion out for your friend. Or, you can add some chillies to a ladle of hot ghee and keep it in a small dish/bowl on the table. People can add a little of it on top of their dish, if they wish.

there was Indian cuisine before chillies were seen in India, believed to be about 1500, this just before Akbar, the Moghul Emperor, refined many arts to a level not seen before (or probably since!!).

Before chillies, there was only pepper, of course, and there are still some recipes which contain only pepper (and not chillies) as a source of heat. And it is well known that the search for a faster route to India that opened up the world to maritime exploration.

It has been suggested that originally, there were only three types of chilli that were imported into India, and started to be cultivated there. Its an intellectual exercise to work out the three!! and then work out their diaspora.

Isn't it the same with Thailand too? They never had access to chillies until European traders took them there, after Columbus had got lost in his travels and brought them back from the New World in the 16th century.

But wow, haven't the Thais' embraced them since!

For me, chilli is only one flavour contributing to Indian cuisine, out of SO MANY, that it's really not a big deal to leave it out. I use it very sparingly, if at all, as I'm not a fan of chilli heat, and what others consider mild I often find too hot.

But there are so very many other spices, herbs and other ingredients that combine in different ways to give flavour that the ommission of chilli would make little difference APART from to those who like the heat!

For me, chilli is only one flavour contributing to Indian cuisine, out of SO MANY, that it's really not a big deal to leave it out. I use it very sparingly, if at all, as I'm not a fan of chilli heat, and what others consider mild I often find too hot.

Agreed. I must say that I am leaning towards using less chilli than I used to. My food used to be laced with super hot peppers and my body has become so used to it that what I consider to be mild gives other people the hiccups and they can't eat it. When I have been cooking them in the past I have managed to evacuate the whole house because of the fumes, but I am not affected by it in the same way. I don't really think it is a good thing in all honesty, but I do still like some chilli in my food.

I think there should be just enough chillies to enhance the taste of the dish and not to camouflage it.