Recipes India - Chilies

Chilies 
 
Being the universal spice of India, chili is a nature's wonder. Its fruit has different sizes, shapes and colour. Only in India, many rich varieties of chilies with different qualities are found.

There are two important commercial qualities of chilies. Red color chilies having the pigment capsanthin and green color chilies known for biting pungency attributed by capsaicin. The chilies are the most essential ingredient in curries of south India.

In curries, they are used as in variety of forms such as paste, powder, broken split or whole form. The fruit is either cooked or consumed raw 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 heat of the pod can be reduced by removing the seeds and inner membranes.

Chili powder is a spice made of the dried ground chilies, along with portions of pepper, cumin, coriander, fenugreek seeds and many other spices.