A spice odyssey…
February 10, 2010
After my rather chilli weekend, I began wondering just how many different kinds of chillies and hot spices I have in my cupboard. So, I’ve just got them all out, and counted nine different ways of heating up my food! Some I use more often than others, and one – the jar of Very Lazy Red Chillies, which I was given – I haven’t used at all.
From left to right, they are: hot chilli sauce, for Thai-style soups; the jar of chopped chillies in wine vinegar, which I haven’t been lazy enough to open yet; the pul biber/tomato paste mix from Istanbul, which I use in my Turkish and Middle Eastern cooking; dried piri piri chillies that I bought on holiday in Portugal a couple of years ago, which I use in more Mediterranean flavoured cooking; flaked pul biber, which, again, I use for a Middle Eastern taste; hot mixed peppercorns, suitable for pretty much anything you want to give a kick to; hot paprika, which is, of course, essential in Spanish cooking; cayenne, for Indian or Mexican food; and, finally, a string of what were originally small, fresh chillies, but I thread them and hang them up to dry out, and these I use mainly in curries.
I know there are much bigger chilli-heads than me out there, so can anyone tell me if I’m missing out on some hot delights? And what about some new ideas for my current chilli collection?
And the cupboard was bare… 
February 11, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Love it! I think I might have a similar number of chilli permutations knocking around here, though I recently discovered in my local Indian grocery store a brilliant variant of your ‘Very Lazy…’ It’s chopped chilli, garlic and ginger all mixed up and preserved in vegetable oil. OK, it’s super lazy, but it means I can knock up a spicy, healthy, filling lunch in approximately NO time at all. In the evening I’d chop, smash, grate and peel unhesitatingly, but somehow it seems like a bit of a faff when it’s just me and when I should really be getting on with something else. Talking of which… Nice blog! I’ll be back…
February 11, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for your comment Liz. I know what you mean about lunchtime cooking activities. I take lunch into my office every day, and as much as I love cooking, the thought of preparing some complicated dish at 7am (which is when I usually end up throwing something together for the day) does not fill me with joy!
Look forward to more of your contributions.
February 11, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Ooh my mouth is watering. I like spices.