Chilli - powder, fresh, dried or sauce

[tezza]

Interested in hearing which dishes you use chilli powder, fresh chillies, dried chillies and chilli sauce.

Being a complete chilli head I generally always have all four to hand in my kitchen, but last night making my veggie chilli I realised I was clean out of chilli powder and fresh chillies.

I normally start off my chilli with fresh chillies, usually Scotch bonnet with the onions & garlic, then chilli powder goes in with the other spices. Normally towards the end of cooking I will decide that it is not hot enough and throw in some chilli sauce, maybe dried chilli flakes too for good measure.

Last night I had to do without the fresh and chilli powder. Brought some of the finished dish in today for colleagues to munch and they tell me that it is my tastiest yet.

So maybe less is more!

So when do you reach for the various chilli products and why?

[4dogsagain]

Not mad on chillies, but I do like the 'bite' that they can give some dishes. I have been using my peppardews that are quite spicy. I also use Wellington's sweet chilli sauce in various dishes. It's great with scrambled eggs!
I have chilli and garlic seasoning that is great for adding a 'touch' of heat.
For real heat, you can't beat cayenne pepper.

[chools]

I like chilli but of late have had a lot of very mild green fresh ones which are a little 'cool', mind you when you do get a hot one you know all about it!

So, tend to use chilli powder a lot as I then have more control on the end flavour ( I like 'hot' dishes but not so that the first mouthful removes all other flavours for the rest of the meal)

I'm growing some chillies this year which promise to be very hot!

KrC

[Prettykiwicrazy]

Chilli powder in chillies or dry rubs.

Fresh chillies in curries, salsas.

Chilli sauce as more of a condiment or will use a few drops in moister foods like if I'm doing homemade burgers.

A big chilli fan which is a bit of a drawback when I'm cooking for others as have to rein in my natural instincts!

[ianinfrance]

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!

[AZCook]

When it comes to chiles, for me, more is more! Can't have too many and in too many varieties and forms, IMO. I have all sorts, all colours, hot, meduim, mild, fresh, frozen, dried, flaked ground, smoked, in oil, in sauces, harissa ... on and on.

My best tip - I always keep a bag of various fresh hot chiles, green and red, frozen in a bag in the freezer for when I don't have a perticular fresh type to hand. I also freeze roasted best green New Mexico chile, but that's very regional to here.

[karadekoolaid]

I've currently got Peruvian yellw chiles, Rocoto, Criollo chiles and some cayennes fresh in the fridge, plus another chile which I can't identify.
Dried, I've got some Amazon chiles (WICKED stuff!), some Aji Panca (Peruvian dried chile a bit like an Ancho), dried cayenne and some Indian "extra hot" chile powder ; as well as a bag of Chile de Arbol and Japanese Chiles.
Bottles - my very own "C4" hot sauce, plus another one I call "Volcánico", plus a jar of Trujillo Chile Sauce a friend makes, plus a bottle of local mass-produced stuff which is about as exciting as a wet weekend in Great Yarmouth.
I eat chiles every day, I think. With eggs for breakfast; in pasta sauces, on veg, etc. etc. I reckon I use the fresh ones more than the dried. I love the citrusy tang of chopped green chiles. I use dried for a spicy version of fettucine "aglio e olio" , and always use dried for Mexican food.
When I'm cooking Indian, it's possible I'll use both fresh and dried at any one moment. I rarely buy industrial sauces; usually only to compare them to mine!!

[tezza]

Thanks for some mouthwatering posts folks. Even I hadn't realised just how many variations on the good old chilli there were out there!

I have decided that I so need to start making my own chilli sauces, the hotter the better! Any recipes you fancy throwing my way folks I would happily sit here and catch them all. In the meantime, I reckon a search on chilli sauce cookery books might just be on the cards.

[Prettykiwicrazy]

Must admit my mouths watering too at the descriptions of all these different types of chillies. Good luck with your chilli sauce hunt Tezza. Perhaps this and some of your other sauces could help you diversify into the food business you want to get into.

[tezza]

Must admit my mouths watering too at the descriptions of all these different types of chillies. Good luck with your chilli sauce hunt Tezza. Perhaps this and some of your other sauces could help you diversify into the food business you want to get into.

I am hoping so! Not being big headed or anything but I am sure that if I had the facilities to make and sell my products I would be fighting off customers wanting to buy my sauces. Well, obviously I wouldn't fight them off, that would completely defeat the object!

[ianinfrance]

I've currently got Peruvian yellow chiles, Rocoto, Criollo chiles

GRRRRRRRRRR. When we were in Peru, we went to the local market in Cusco and bought some powdered yellow chillies so we could cook some of the specialities that required it. Guess what... when our luggage was broken into on the way home, apart from our penknives, one sock, one slipper, one leather glove and a purse of a few coins of small change (UK), that poly-bag got nicked. So I never managed to get it home. A shame, because I found it quite different and can't quite imagine using another ground chilli.

[Dena]

And I thought I had a good selection I have

Chile de Arbo,chipotle, Ancho, chilli flakes and something brought back from Thailand for me, Na-rok mang-da chile flake (?) which I haven opened yet (if any one can tell me more about these I'd be so grateful). These are all dried.
I also have fresh red and green chiles (don't know where from) and cayenne pepper.

I have also just bought my first Kashmiri dried chile for a Goan pork vindaloo.

[StokeySue]

I tend to use whatever the recipe says - I have ground red chili powder brought back from India that is so hot I automatically halve any amount in a recipe[

Some nobody has mentioned so far I think - Tabasco or Crystal sauce for seasoning and adjusting the heat in a nearly finished dish, West Indian pepper sauce for dipping, Thai sweet sauce for dipping (though I've gone off that a bit) and Tunisian harissa past, my current favourite. A tiny dab in almost anything with a lot of sweet peppers in it is great for intensifying the flavour without making the dish really hot, and last night we had lamb chops marinated in loads of harissa and grilled on the barbecue. Yum.

[Dena]

I'd forgotten sauces I have tabasco both red and green, sweet chilli dipping sauces (thai and W.Indian) plus my own chilli jam - and mixes, ras el hanout and harissa.

Why is food containing chile soooo addictive?

[Dena]

Hi tezza,

Have you thought about getting a small business grant? You want so much to get into the catering trade, either making your own sauces, starting up a mobile food outlet, etc. etc.
You could you get yourself a business plan, check it out with your OH and others who can help and then go for it. You can still keep your job going until you learn whether you will be getting grant or not.

A young friend of mine - who was made redundant - has set her self up in a business that she thought would work. She got a grant and now has too much for herself to do on her own, so she is thinking about employing someone else on a part time basis. She is absolutely loving it and wishes she had done it earlier but doubts if she would have had the courage before being made redundant.

Nothing ventured - nothing gained

[ianinfrance]

Why is food containing chile soooo addictive

Endorphins. http://www.hub-uk.com/interesting02/chiles-health.htm

[tezza]

Hi Dena

I have wondered about getting a business loan in the past. Sounds like your friend is doing really well and good luck to her. My mum actually seems quite keen to help me if I do get something started up. She is retired and bored and has a background in catering, and she only lives up the road. She is sick of me keep ringing her up, exclaiming how damned sick I am of office work when I have talent in my hands and brain for working with food. So sick that I think she is praying that something comes up for me soon.

My friend at work repeated something that she heard Roger Federer say not so long ago. You have to make your own luck. You can't just sit back and wait for it to happen. And I believe that is true. I won't stop til I get what I want!

Back to chilli sauces - does anyone have a good recipe, or can point me to a reputable website or book on the subject?

[Dena]

Hi tezza,

The link Ian gave

Endorphins. http://www.hub-uk.com/interesting02/chiles-health.htm
--

has a chile sauce recipe plus more recipes using chiles

Back to working in catering - sorry - but it wasn't a business loan tezza, it was a grant, - she's on holiday at the moment so I can't ask her about it but as far as I can remember it was a weekly allowance and a start up amount until the business took off (I think) - that is if they approved the business plan and thought it had a chance of success.

I'm sure someone on here will know more.

[Dena]

Endorphins

Thanks Ian,

Wonderful things these endorphins - now I know why I love plain chocolate and chiles

[karadekoolaid]

Why is food containing chile soooo addictive?

DAMN the time zone! Ian beat me to it!!

In a nutshell, the chile "buzz" is not so much the "high" when it burns your tongue off; it's the "low" when it's all over!!!!!!!