There are numerous types of Red Chilli Powder out there and we love them all. When it comes to cooking our food, we must pick right Chilli Powder for the type of food that we planning to cook. Some Chillies are preferred due to their spicy flavoursome for their bright beautiful colour.
Today in this blog post we will help you decide which Red Chilli is right for you for the type of recipe that you are planning for your next meal.
Chilli powder, cayenne and paprika, all these spices have a vibrant red colour and look very similar, but they are made from different kinds of chillies.
Don’t get confused about these spices. Read the following article on these spices and find the various types of chillies that are used to grow them to help get a better picture.
Types of Chillies in India.
1. Kashmiri Chilli
Kashmiri Red Chilli
Kashmiri Chilli is popularly used in Indian Cuisine for its dark Red beautiful colour. It has a mild spicy flavour which is sometimes prefered by households that prefer less spicy food but prefer the beautiful red colour of the Chilli.
Hotness Level – Mild Spicy
Colour – Wine Red
The region it’s Grown –
Primarily Used – Indian Food for Red colour
Health Benefits – Since it is mildly spicy it is sed as a replacement for Chilli Powder mentioned below to avoid stomach burns and acidity issues.
2. Common Indian Chillies
There are so many varieties used across the nation. Almost every region has its own cuisines and the chillies to accomplish the folk recipes.
Varieties of Indian Chillies
The most common red chilli powder, widely used in Indian Cuisines. This chilli powder is what gives the Indian food it’s spicy nature which we all have a love and hate relationship with 😀
There are different varieties and types of chillies grown and consumed regionally in India. Some of them are 1. Guntur Reshmapatti chilli (Andra Pradesh) 2. Jwala Chilli (Gujarat) 3. Kanthari Chilli (Tamil Nadu) 4. Byadagi chilli (Karnataka) 5. Dhani Chilli (Kolkata) 6. Reshampatti 7. Bhavnagari (Gujarat) 8. Mathania (Rajasthan) 9. Bhut Jolokia, Also known as “The Ghost pepper” across the world. It is the spiciest among all the chillies in the world.
These chillies varies from mild spiciness to very spicy nature and used in Indian curries, pickles and making chutneys.
3. Paprika
Paprika
Paprika is a fairly common powder of chilli made from dried ground peppers. Usually, it is made with sweet peppers, but commonly it is sold as sweet, spicy, or smoked paprika. Usually, it is very mild and gives a bright red colour to the dishes.
4.Cayenne
Cayenne
From homemade hot sauce to chilli con Carne, cayenne is a hot pepper that can add a punch of heat to any recipe. Cayenne is related to a variety of peppers, including jalapenos, bell peppers, and New Mexico chilli peppers, and belongs to the Capsicum Annuum family of plants.
Forms of Chilli
Red Dry and 2. Green
Red chillies are more pungent and it is depending upon the type too. Their spiciness varies from medium – high.
Whereas, green chillies are mostly spicy to very spicy in flavour.
Red Chilli’s self life is more compared to the green chillies so they can be stored and are available throughout the year while the green ones are seasonable.
Red Chillies are used as a whole, fried, pickles, paste and in powdered form, whereas the green chillies are mostly used fried, whole and in paste form.
Red chillies are often used in Indian curries, snacks and culinary preparations while the green chillies are more used to garnish or in Dal.
Prices vary from the variety to variety, but in a nutshell, green chillies are cheaper than red ones.
HOW TO USE CHILLIES IN INDIAN DISHES
There are many ways through which you can make use of chillies in Indian cuisine.
It all depends on the type of dish you’re making and the type of chillies you’re going to use for the dish.
Here are some of the popular ways to cook chillies:
It is the very common practice of Indian kitchens, to make curries and dishes spicier and sometimes to give more red colour. It gives the smokiness to the dish and poured over the dishes once they are prepared.
Both green and red chillies can either be used as a tadka and if you want to make it spicier, cut the whole chillies into half then do the tempering.
Most Indian dishes uses the powdered red chillies as their main ingredient of hot and spicy flavour.
2 Pickles
It is an very traditional way to keep the vegetables in off-season use.
They are very delicious as we can make them spicy or tangy too.
Like a traditional mango or lime pickle, we can make chilli pickles and have it with different dishes to give an extra punch of hotness.
3 Chutney
It is the most used way of using the green chillies to accompany the local street foods as well as the chaat.
It is a thick paste of green chillies (we can make the chutney of red chillies also) and goes with the garlic or coconut. It is widely served with the snakes to accompany, enhance and balance the taste.
This is like an appetizer and goes well before the full meal. The stuffing can be of coconut, potato or paneer.
Moreover, We can have it with the Indian version of bread (Bhakhri or Parantha)
This is amazing preparation of chilli you can ever taste!
5. Deep fried Chillies
Most commonly served in the Indian house hold as well as the street food side. It goes well with almost every Indian dishes as a side accomplishment.
You can just simply fry it or you can stuff then fry it.
6 Garnish
Green Chillies are often used as a garnish in certain dishes like biryani, pulav and some curries. They add spiciness to the dishes.
If you like, you can use the red chilli also, as an toppings on pizza, sizzler, and some curries.
7 Flakes
Red chillies are dried and roasted to certain amount and then course to the flakes form. It is used to top the pizza, bread, parantha and some road side dishes. It adds aroma and spiciness to the dish.
Thank you for reading!
Find out more interesting facts and QnA about Chillies on another blog “The Eight most popular chillies found in India“