Ingredient: Chili peppers
Category: Herbs, Spices & Seasoning
Season: All
The chili pepper, Chilli pepper, or more simply just "Chili", is the fruit of the plants from the genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae.
Even though chili peppers may be thought of as a vegetable, their culinary usage is generally as a spice, the part of the plant that is usually harvested is the fruit, and botany considers the plant a berry shrub.
The name, which is spelled differently in many regions (chili, chille, or chili), comes from Nahuatl via the Spanish word chile. The term chili in most of the world refers exclusively to the smaller, hot types of capsicum.
In the United States the mild larger types are called "Bell pepper".
In Britain, Canada and Ireland they are called red or green pepper or sweet pepper
In India and Australasia they are called capsicum and paprika in many European countries.
Chili peppers and their various cultivars originate in the Americas; they are now grown around the world because they are widely used as spices or vegetables in cuisine, and as medicine.
The chili has a long association with Mexican cuisine as later adapted into Tex-Mex cuisine.
Unknown in Asia until Europeans introduced it there, chili has also become a part of the Korean, Indian, Indonesian, Szechuan, Thai and other cooking traditions.
It's popularity has seen it adopted into many cuisines Worldwide.
Chili fruit
The fruit is eaten raw or cooked for its fiery hot flavour which is concentrated along the top of the pod.
The stem end of the pod has glands which produce the capsaicin, which then flows down through the pod. The white pith, that surrounds the seeds, contains the highest concentrations of capsaicin.
Removing the seeds and inner membranes is thus effective at reducing the heat of a pod.
Bangalore Chili is often sold worldwide as a spice in dried and powdered form.
In the United States, it is often made from the Mexican chile ancho variety, but with small amounts of cayenne added for heat.
In the Southwest United States, dried ground chili peppers, cumin, garlic and oregano is often known as chili powder. Chipotles are dry, smoked red (ripe) jalapeños.
Chili peppers are also often used around the world to make a wide variety of sauces, known as hot sauce, chili sauce, or pepper sauce.
There are countless recipes.
Indian cooking has multiple uses for chilis, from snacks like bajji where the chilis are dipped in batter and fried to the infamously hot vindaloo. Chilis are also dried and roasted and salted for later use as a side dish for rice varieties like vadam (a kind of pappad).
In Turkish or Ottoman cuisine, chilis are widely used where it is known as Biber (Red Pepper) or Biber (Hot Pepper).
Sambal is dipping sauce made from chili peppers with many other ingredients such as garlic, onion, shallots, salt, vinegar and sugar, which is very popular in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Chili powder is an important spice in Persian cuisine and is used moderately in a variety of dishes.
Chili leaves
The leaves of the chili pepper plant, which are mildly bitter, are cooked as greens in Filipino cuisine, where they are called dahon ng sili (literally "chili leaves"). They are often used in the chicken soup dish known as tinola.
In Korean cuisine, the leaves are also used to produce kimchi.
Chili peppers are popular in food. They are rich in vitamin C and are believed to have many beneficial effects on health.
Nutritional value
Red chilis contain some amounts of vitamin C and provitamin A.
Yellow and especially green chilis (which are essentially unripe fruit) contain a considerably lower amount of both substances.
In addition, peppers are a good source of most B vitamins, and vitamin B6 in particular.
They are very high in potassium and high in magnesium and iron.
Their high vitamin C content can also substantially increase the uptake of non-heme iron from other ingredients in a meal, such as beans and grains.
|