by ianinfrance » July 2nd, 2010, 1:57 pm
I use ground chillies (cayenne)a lot in all sorts of cooking in tiny quantities to give a "sparkle". For example in potted shellfish, in any sauce with cheese in it, and so on. I'd tend to use a small pinch only. I also have crushed bird's eye chillies, which I tend to use in slightly larger quantities when I want some heat. Cayenne is mostly the ground chillies that I use in Indian food. I use Kashmiri ground chilli for a few Northern Indian dishes, and when I want a strong colour and flavour with slightly less hotness than cayenne.
I use Chile powder (the compound) when making chile con carne (UK spelling), as a substitute for a Cajun seasoning mix in various dishes from that part of the world and when I want to spice up some South or Central American dishes.
I have about 12 different types of whole dried chilli, from the mildest - (Ancho) through Pasilla, Mulato, Chilpotle, Arból and so on right up to the hottest Habanero, which I use when making mexican food and also which make a paste base for my Chile con carne.
Then for Indonesian, Thai, Singaporean, and Indonsesian food, I tend to use either dried bird's eye chillies or fresh "rat crap" chilies for my curries, hot red or green for varied dishes. For some Indonesian food I use sambals (which are ground chiles and spices). In Szechuan food, I tend to use made up chile/black bean sauces. For North African food I use Harissa. And lastly in hungarian food, I use either cherry paprika (to add to soup) or csipos csemege paprika powder - when I want some heat and flavour in dishes generally.
I'm not really a chilli head, as such, because I don't seek to add heat for its own sake, but I do adore food with some hotness - at all levels.
I bet I've missed several things out!
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All the best
Ian
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