Southern food

lomuamart · Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 4:26 pm Post subject:

Actually, one thing I was going to ask Guess is whether you were getting cumin (not sure of your Khamin) and turmeric mixed up. Turmeric's haldi and is yellow and stains badly. Thought Khamin might be another spelling of cumin, which is totally different.
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Norseman · Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:05 pm Post subject:

Guess · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:17 am Post subject:

lomuamart · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:42 am Post subject:

Na,
Unless you sweat a bit with the ol' pestle and mortar, it just dosn't taste the same.
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chelsea · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:11 am Post subject:

Thanks to veryone for explaing the differences.
I went to Koh Lanta a few years ago, and at the time, it was still fairly unspoilt by tourism.
I am a lover of the Thai Salads and any of the Larb dishes. I found the food to be much hotter in places that I ate there compared to Krabi, Phuket and Phi Phi Island.
With the latter 3 places being more tourist oriantated, I would imagine that I tasted a lot more authentic dishes in Koh Lanta that the other places.
It seems to be a bit like indian food, in some places the Vindaloo is hotter that the Madras and other times is the other way round (dependant on the areas that you are visiting).
Cheers

lomuamart · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:12 am Post subject:

You've hit the nail on the head, Chelsea, in as much as the food in southern India is generally much more hot than central or north. A Madras, from Tamil Nadu will always be hotter than a vindaloo from Goa.
Maybe not in the West, but then they're "European Indian" dishes.
I'm talking about local dishes here, not the tourist varieties. I'm sure the same goes for Thailand. The further south, the hotter it gets.
My uncle in India always used to say that Sri Lankan food was the hottest he'd ever tasted. I never did get there to see if it was true.
Then again, a couple of years ago when back in the UK, there was an article in a newspsper - it wasn't April 1st, or The Sun - and a chilli had been cross-produced that was something daft like 30 times more hot than the hottest Mexican at the time. And that came from Assam - NE India. Heaven knows who'd want to try and eat that!!
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"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

Guess · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 3:42 pm Post subject:

Interesting things about the Chillis which of course are the main ingredient in food to make it hot even though I have had some Pakistani dishes that are quite hot but contain no Chillis.

Some guy has taken the trouble to scientifically measure the heat in a chilli and grade it by variety. The hottest at the time of reading was the Mexican yellow ball chilli which "gave one the feeling that the head was leaving the shoulders"

I wonder what this guy in NE India can do. Maybe this is the secret behind the Indian Rope Trick.

Apart from the exception that Lomu has mentioned it does seem though that the closer you get to the equator the hotter the chillies become. It is also the case that red and yellow chillis are generally hotter than their green counterparts. Somtetimes the colour is dicated by the species/variety and sometimes by the stage of ripeness. I have seen many chilli bushes with gree, yellow, orange and red chillis growing on it.

My wife bought some curry from the stall opposite the Railway Restaurant yesterday and complained that it was not spicey enough. I tried a spoonful and immediately required half a pint of cold water.
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prcscct · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:03 pm Post subject:

prcscct · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:51 pm Post subject:

REMEDIES:

1) Water: It doesn't work for me. I've been told it simply washes over the acid the chilli has deposited on your tongue and throat.

2) A spoon full of rice: Helps somewhat, but since my nasal passages close up totally at the first sign of on overload of chilli, I can't breathe and tend to turn red and choke as my mouth is full of rice.

3) A piece of bread: See # 2 above.

4) A new one: Just heard it a few weeks ago and have not tried it. Told to me by an old Thai woman, almost 80 so I respect her knowledge. She said eat a teaspoon of namthan see kow(sp) (white sugar) and the burn will stop immediately.

If anyone has a chance to try #4, please let us know the results. Pete

Norseman · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:17 pm Post subject:

Good advise Pete. I'll go for #4 next time.
You'll get your report.
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chelsea · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:09 am Post subject:

Pete, in most indian resteraunts, if you order the yoghurt and cucumber side dish, that takes away the burning sensation of the curry. is supposedly the yoghurt that helps the most.
Water also does not work at all (even iced), it just makes it 10 times worse.
Cheers

lomuamart · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:59 am Post subject:

I'd agree with the sugar rememdy. Relatives in India swore by it and it always worked for me.
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"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

david83 · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:13 am Post subject:

I have sometimes gotten some kind of seeds when eating spicy food at indian restaurants. Not sure what they are, taste like licorice, but they take the heat away instantly if chewed Very Happy

I can try to find out, might need them when coming down there...

lomuamart · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:20 am Post subject:

I think thet're carraway seeds. Helps digestion.
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"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

Bamboo Grove · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 12:27 pm Post subject:

Or could they be aniseed?
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