Chilli Question

[Biscombe]

HI all,
Does anyone know what variety chiils are used in indian curries?

[Biscombe]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Any. A lot depends on how hot a curry you want, but there are numerous varieties grown in the subcontinent.

[Merry Tiller]

It's entirely up to who's cooking/eating the curry

[tim]

What you've got - then more or less!

[petuariapete]

Hi Biscombe,

If you like your curry hot then the Naga (which originates from India and Bangladesh) is the one which I believe is used in Indian curries. You can find details of the different types here...

http://tinyurl.com/ybcmll

The Dorset Naga is reputedly the world's hottest chilli and is often advertised  and sold on eBay at prices over 50p per seed, and it comes with a health warning!

PP

[Robert_Brenchley]

This seems to be the plce to get them. http://www.peppersbypost.biz/ .

[Biscombe]

Thanks you all!! ;D
I grow a few varieties of chilli each year and wondered if there was a special type for indian cooking! the indian supermarkets sell a small plump green type that dosent blow your head off and has a lovely taste? any ideas, I've also seen the very long thin green chillis that look a bit scary!!! ;)

[Hyacinth]

I can't give you a name for that sort of green plump chilli, but all my local Asian greengrocers sell a green chilli identical to ones sold at the supermarkets round about....where they're merely labelled 'Product of Kenya'.....Kenya produces quite a few chillies, so not a lot of use I know :-\

However, let me bang the drum (again?) for Apache....nice plump green (before they turn red!) chillis, lovely flavour, doesn't blow your head off.  Cleo recommended them to me.

[tim]

A challenge - make it with first one, then another chilli. Tell me the difference in taste.

Assuming a 'hot' chilli type, heat depends entirely on quantity?

[Curryandchips]

Glad to hear someone mentioning the 'taste' of chillies. Although I am one of those blessed souls who can cope with the heat of most types of chillies, it is the taste which makes them enjoyable - otherwise I would be satisfied with chillipowder. As an aside, it is possible to temper the heat of chillies by adding sugar - and I have been assured by an asian friend that certain dairy products - eg yoghurt - have the same effect. Makes sense to me anyway. I always smile when I see someone try to dowse the heat of chillies by glugging lager ... a case of Greek fire?

[Biscombe]

Good point Tim, but all the chillis I've grown have a different taste when you get through the heat barrier!! ;)

[Hyacinth]

taste/heat.....taste/heat...old discussions being rehashed...

My contention is that there IS a taste.......a quality that's completely apart from the heat.....and, dammit, I LIKE the taste of Apache ;D ;D ;D

Recently I've heard on progs on Radio4 that the main heat is not contained in the seeds (as I'd always thought) but in the white membrane which attaches the seeds to the chilli? Dunno, not done a control.

But generally, yes,  I agree with Curry (and that's gotta be a 1st :P)....if I want 'heat' then chilli powder, etc.......why not?

But for taste......ahhhh.......APACHE, APACHE, APACHE all the way 8)

(once more........thanks Steph!)

[Toadspawn]

I thought it was the combination of different spices which gave curries their strength and flavour rather than using one particular variety of chilli pepper.

[Curryandchips]

I feel I agree with you on flavour (in the broadest sense), but chillies are primarily responsible for the actual heat ... ?

[tim]

Love it!!

[Biscombe]

ok ok ok its got to be Apache!!!

[tim]

Can't change from Jalapeno - got at least another year's supply!1

[Hyacinth]

I don't think for a moment I'd be able to differentiate taste in a curry...but I use chillis even in breakfast scrambled eggs....and taste matters! lol

[Curryandchips]

Can't change from Jalapeno - got at least another year's supply!1

Just the opposite here, down to about my last two dozen frozen chillies, then it will be down to the market ... not shopped there in years actually  :-\

[Robert_Brenchley]

Chilis aren't the only 'hot' ingredient in a curry (you can make them pretty hot with black pepper), but they are the main one. The vital spices are chili, black pepper, cardamom seeds, cumin, cinnamon, cloves and green cardamoms. I use loads of others as well, since the important thing is to make it tasty rather than just hot.