guests adding curry hotness

JWBH said:

I enjoy making a curry, but several people I know who will be sharing the
meal don't like it too hot.

...snip..

Quoted message said:

Since I want to make an effort to get a good meal, would anyone advise me on
how I could make something as an additional sauce that guests could just
stir into the curry to make it hotter, if that's what they wanted?
Thanks.

I do this in a number of ways:

1) I make chilli sambal, this is essentially ground chillis and other
flavourings (onion, blacan, sugar, salt vinegar, etc) fried to a thick
paste in oil. It will keep for ages and goes in curries and spicy
soups like laksa. The sambal fancier will eat this on bread or
biscuits as an aperitif. You can buy some commercial ones (sambal
oerlik, sambal badjak) but often they are uninteresting being little
but chillis and vinegar/salt. I have recipes if you are interested.

2) Serve hot pickles, in contrast the commercial variety are often
quite good. Hot lime pickle and sweet mango pickle are popular.
There are less hot varieties that may be attractive to the less chilli
tolerant.

3) For the double-dyed heat freaks a small bowl of chopped fresh
chilli.

Chilli powder alone is not traditional and would not work very well
IMO.

David

JWBH said:

Since I want to make an effort to get a good meal, would anyone
advise me on how I could make something as an additional sauce that
guests could just stir into the curry to make it hotter, if that's
what they wanted?

Use your powdered chilies or whole chilies, making sure they're dried: put
them in a vial with some olive oil and let 2 weeks pass, shaking the vial
some times a day. In a couple of weeks the oil should start to be noticeably
hot and it is good on almost everything, from pasta dishes to pizza to
various meats, etc.
An option is to put some garlic, also, it's got to be dry as the chilies and
should be removed after one week, since it could start developing a foul
smell one wouldn't like in a flavored oil.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

"Vilco" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

JWBH said:

Since I want to make an effort to get a good meal, would anyone
advise me on how I could make something as an additional sauce that
guests could just stir into the curry to make it hotter, if that's
what they wanted?

Use your powdered chilies or whole chilies, making sure they're dried: put
them in a vial with some olive oil and let 2 weeks pass, shaking the vial
some times a day. In a couple of weeks the oil should start to be
noticeably hot and it is good on almost everything, from pasta dishes to
pizza to various meats, etc.
An option is to put some garlic, also, it's got to be dry as the chilies
and should be removed after one week, since it could start developing a
foul smell one wouldn't like in a flavored oil.
Vilco

Thanks to all. with the chillied oil method above, i've come across dried
chillies obviously, but can you get dried garlic cloves? (i've never seen
them in London) or are you talking about ordinary garlic just not being
wet? would garlic powder be alright please?

JWBH said:

Thanks to all. with the chillied oil method above, i've come across
dried chillies obviously, but can you get dried garlic cloves? (i've
never seen them in London) or are you talking about ordinary garlic
just not being wet? would garlic powder be alright please?

I never tried garlic powder but it should be OK, as long as it's just minced
dried garlic. With dried garlic I meant the peeled cloves after they've
spent some days out in the summer sun.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Vilco said:

JWBH said:

Thanks to all. with the chillied oil method above, i've come across
dried chillies obviously, but can you get dried garlic cloves? (i've
never seen them in London) or are you talking about ordinary garlic
just not being wet? would garlic powder be alright please?

I never tried garlic powder but it should be OK, as long as it's just minced
dried garlic. With dried garlic I meant the peeled cloves after they've
spent some days out in the summer sun.

I really disagree. I find dried garlic awful and since it is often
dried using some kind of stabilizer it has both chemicals and a bad
taste. In some seasoned salts there's enough other stuff to make it
less discernible, but I won't use it where garlic is needed. What's so
hard about mincing a bit of garlic and putting it into a tiny dish?

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Giusi said:

Quoted message said:

I never tried garlic powder but it should be OK, as long as it's
just minced dried garlic. With dried garlic I meant the peeled
cloves after they've spent some days out in the summer sun.

Quoted message said:

I really disagree. I find dried garlic awful and since it is often
dried using some kind of stabilizer it has both chemicals and a bad
taste.

You're not dis-agreeing, read better the line "as long as it's just minced
dried garlic".
If it contains chemicals and/or tastes/smells different from garlic it's out
of my field.

Quoted message said:

In some seasoned salts there's enough other stuff to make it
less discernible, but I won't use it where garlic is needed.

Seasoned salt?

Quoted message said:

What's so hard about mincing a bit of garlic and putting it into a tiny
dish?

The time to let it dry: here in Italy it takes few days, somewhere else it
could take very long time, and also here the last weeks have been cold and
humid: probably it would have required weeks to dry well some garlic.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Vilco said:

Giusi said:

Quoted message said:

I never tried garlic powder but it should be OK, as long as it's
just minced dried garlic. With dried garlic I meant the peeled
cloves after they've spent some days out in the summer sun.

Quoted message said:

I really disagree. I find dried garlic awful and since it is often
dried using some kind of stabilizer it has both chemicals and a bad
taste.

You're not dis-agreeing, read better the line "as long as it's just minced
dried garlic".
If it contains chemicals and/or tastes/smells different from garlic it's out
of my field.

Quoted message said:

In some seasoned salts there's enough other stuff to make it
less discernible, but I won't use it where garlic is needed.

Seasoned salt?

Quoted message said:

What's so hard about mincing a bit of garlic and putting it into a tiny
dish?

The time to let it dry: here in Italy it takes few days, somewhere else it
could take very long time, and also here the last weeks have been cold and
humid: probably it would have required weeks to dry well some garlic.

Why does it have to be dry? Why not fresh?

I can hardly dry my laundry in Umbria lately. Anyway, I suspect the
poster meant to go buy dried garlic or powder in a grocery store.

Just as in the EU, some things are not so clear from a label. It may
say some incomprehensible word and then "for freshness" or as here,
maybe be defined as an acceptable EU thing and just have a number.

I don't know anyone who dries their garlic here. Too much opportunity
for muffa in the "green heart of Italy."

I admit to occasionally using "Salarom" because as those mixtures go it
is tasty and for a single serving it doesn't feel worth mixing up spices
from scratch.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

In article <[email hidden]>, blue.star777
@REMOOOOVEvirgin.net says...

Quoted message said:

I enjoy making a curry, but several people I know who will be sharing the
meal don't like it too hot.

So what I want to do is make some fairly mild curries and then have
something that will enable people to make it hotter (i.e. add some form of
chillie) at the table, if they want to make it hotter.

I know some people who are keen to make authentic curries always go for
fresh chillies, but being a novice this is unknown territory for me; and for
myself I always stick with some chillie powder which I am more familiar with
(no nasty very hot surprises).

Since I want to make an effort to get a good meal, would anyone advise me on
how I could make something as an additional sauce that guests could just
stir into the curry to make it hotter, if that's what they wanted?
Thanks.

You can add hotness in various ways, as other posters have responded,
but it will not be the same. A good curry has the hotness cooked into
it, resulting in a different and superior taste compared with just
adding some hotness at the table.

--
Peter Aitken

Giusi said:

Quoted message said:

The time to let it dry: here in Italy it takes few days, somewhere
else it could take very long time, and also here the last weeks have
been cold and humid: probably it would have required weeks to dry
well some garlic.

Quoted message said:

Why does it have to be dry? Why not fresh?

The only times I had bad smelling oil, it was when I used fresh garlic. With
dried cloves I never had a problem.

Quoted message said:

Just as in the EU, some things are not so clear from a label. It may
say some incomprehensible word and then "for freshness" or as here,
maybe be defined as an acceptable EU thing and just have a number.

Then it wouldn't be "just minced dried garlic".

Quoted message said:

I don't know anyone who dries their garlic here. Too much opportunity
for muffa in the "green heart of Italy."

BTW, I dry garlic only to make flavored oil, otherwise it's always fresh, or
semi fresh after a long stay on the nail in the wall.

Quoted message said:

I admit to occasionally using "Salarom" because as those mixtures go
it is tasty and for a single serving it doesn't feel worth mixing up
spices from scratch.

I once used it often, Salarom or Ariosto, then I started to mix my own
spices and never got back 😉
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Vilco said:

Quoted message said:

I admit to occasionally using "Salarom" because as those mixtures go
it is tasty and for a single serving it doesn't feel worth mixing up
spices from scratch.

I once used it often, Salarom or Ariosto, then I started to mix my own
spices and never got back 😉

You are a better man indeed than I.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

JWBH said:

Since I want to make an effort to get a good meal, would anyone advise me on
how I could make something as an additional sauce that guests could just
stir into the curry to make it hotter, if that's what they wanted?

Another option to sambals are chutneys. These are typically fruit or
veggie and chile based sauces, often sweet and hot, that are great as an
enhancement. One of my faves is the dead simple mint chutney. Take
some fresh onions, cilantro, mint, and jalpeno or serrano chiles and
blend/puree them together. It's a bright green bomb that is a real
surprise to those unfamiliar with this fiery mint combination.

nb

JWBH said:

I enjoy making a curry, but several people I know who will be sharing the
meal don't like it too hot.

That is pretty vague. When some people say they don't like things too hot
it means they don't like hot things at all.

Dave Smith said:

JWBH said:

I enjoy making a curry, but several people I know who will be sharing the
meal don't like it too hot.

That is pretty vague. When some people say they don't like things too hot
it means they don't like hot things at all.

And some people mistakenly think that the use of a variety of spices
means foods will be hot.

"Vilco" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Giusi said:

Quoted message said:

I never tried garlic powder but it should be OK, as long as it's
just minced dried garlic. With dried garlic I meant the peeled
cloves after they've spent some days out in the summer sun.

Quoted message said:

I really disagree. I find dried garlic awful and since it is often
dried using some kind of stabilizer it has both chemicals and a bad
taste.

You're not dis-agreeing, read better the line "as long as it's just minced
dried garlic".
If it contains chemicals and/or tastes/smells different from garlic it's
out of my field.

Quoted message said:

In some seasoned salts there's enough other stuff to make it
less discernible, but I won't use it where garlic is needed.

Seasoned salt?

Quoted message said:

What's so hard about mincing a bit of garlic and putting it into a tiny
dish?

The time to let it dry: here in Italy it takes few days, somewhere else it
could take very long time, and also here the last weeks have been cold and
humid: probably it would have required weeks to dry well some garlic.
Vilco

I really like the idea of a 'standby' hot oil i can keep and use anytime.
since i dont have 'dried' garlic i'm down to using powdered garlic. since
its a powder, i guess i wont be able to fish it out of the oil succesfully
after a week and i'm wondering if it will go bad, like mentioned before with
dried garlic?

JWBH said:

I enjoy making a curry, but several people I know who will be sharing the
meal don't like it too hot.

So what I want to do is make some fairly mild curries and then have
something that will enable people to make it hotter (i.e. add some form of
chillie) at the table, if they want to make it hotter.

I know some people who are keen to make authentic curries always go for
fresh chillies, but being a novice this is unknown territory for me; and for
myself I always stick with some chillie powder which I am more familiar with
(no nasty very hot surprises).

Since I want to make an effort to get a good meal, would anyone advise me on
how I could make something as an additional sauce that guests could just
stir into the curry to make it hotter, if that's what they wanted?
Thanks.

As as curry addict i dont think your going about this the right way,
imo, trying to heat up a curry without any simmering will probly
overwhelm the flavours with the heat, for which, cayenne would probly work.

I would suggest you purchase a Japanese product called "Golden Curry"
for your friends who dont want too hot a curry, make a separate sauce
for them, it is a "just add water" curry paste and quite good for a
commercial product, but it is an Asian style curry rather than a Indian
curry. Golden curry is sold in mild, medium and hot versions, but the
"hot" is quite mild IMO.
--
JL

In article <[email hidden]>,

JWBH said:

I enjoy making a curry, but several people I know who will be sharing the
meal don't like it too hot.

So what I want to do is make some fairly mild curries and then have
something that will enable people to make it hotter (i.e. add some form of
chillie) at the table, if they want to make it hotter.

I know some people who are keen to make authentic curries always go for
fresh chillies, but being a novice this is unknown territory for me; and for
myself I always stick with some chillie powder which I am more familiar with
(no nasty very hot surprises).

Since I want to make an effort to get a good meal, would anyone advise me on
how I could make something as an additional sauce that guests could just
stir into the curry to make it hotter, if that's what they wanted?
Thanks.

I suggest making a very hot curry that people can use to heat up the
milder curry or eat on its own. Serve both and let the guests taste
each and decide how they want to mix it if at all.

JWBH said:

I enjoy making a curry, but several people I know who will be sharing the
meal don't like it too hot.

So what I want to do is make some fairly mild curries and then have
something that will enable people to make it hotter (i.e. add some form of
chillie) at the table, if they want to make it hotter.

I know some people who are keen to make authentic curries always go for
fresh chillies, but being a novice this is unknown territory for me; and for
myself I always stick with some chillie powder which I am more familiar with
(no nasty very hot surprises).

Since I want to make an effort to get a good meal, would anyone advise me on
how I could make something as an additional sauce that guests could just
stir into the curry to make it hotter, if that's what they wanted?
Thanks.

Why don't you make a hot curry and a mild curry? You did say you were
making "some curries" so there must be room for more than one kind.
What kind of are you making? Thai, Japanese, Indian? They are all
different.
Others have suggested chutneys and hot sauces on the side - good
ideas, in my opinion.
I am no expert, but when I have "I don't like it too hot" folks for
dinner, it usually means what someone else already said " I don't like
it hot at all" so why make the hot fans suffer? Make something
everyone can enjoy.

-Tracy

JWBH said:

I really like the idea of a 'standby' hot oil i can keep and use
anytime. since i dont have 'dried' garlic i'm down to using powdered
garlic. since its a powder, i guess i wont be able to fish it out of
the oil succesfully after a week and i'm wondering if it will go bad,
like mentioned before with dried garlic?

Things can vary much, you know, I myself experienced an oil where the dried
garlic rested for some months without giving any bad smell, and others where
the garlica taste became dominant and, after some months, became a bad
smell. Why don't you try to remove the powder with some small kind of sieve?
Maybe a tea filter could work, or even a simple piece of fabric.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'