I suffer from frequent sinus infections in the (dry) winter months, and I find that a good curry will clear my sinuses in a day. But I want to cook at home rather than eating out all the time. All the home-cooking hot sauce and curry preparations I've tried so far burn my mouth and sometimes even my tongue (much more than the sweat-inducing Chinese curry I ate last night!) -- but they don't make me sweat! What's the magic ingredient I'm missing? If you can provide references to any articles about this, I'd be very grateful....
2006-12-23 08:50:25 · 6 answers · asked by Sinus_sufferer 1 in Food & Drink ➔ Ethnic Cuisine
As an indian I can tell you its not the chili that's clearing your sinuses, its the ginger and other spices that are the magic behind it all. Ginger generates heat in our bodies hence the sweating. The other spices like cloves, cinnamon, ground pepper also act like heat generators in our body. If you have every had authentic indian spiced tea, aka masala tea, it gives you the same feeling.
2006-12-26 07:39:16 · answer #1 · answered by Michael K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Being a former chef and a curry fanatic like yourself, I to try to test the limits of spiciness, the best thing I can recommend is try different Indian chilis, the red flakes are o.k. but don't give the complexity of the right combination of garlic, chilis, ginger and spices.
I buy alot of whole spices in Toronto Canada, and we have bulk food store were I can get cumin, coriander, cardoman, cinnamon, fenugreek and peppercorns, I grind these in a coffee grinder I use only for spices, get yourself one, they run $10-15 at Walmart.
Then I add my ground spices, like turmeric, mace, and others like garam masala. All I can say, experiement with the amounts of one thing, you will find that your likely to have a preference for certain spices, chili levels and styles of sauce, like thick, thin or having a dairy based or added. Also go to as many Indian restaurants, try meat veg and a dish called birianyi, sort of a rice and meat combo.
As for the biggest difference, one funny thing with Chinese currys as a posed to Indian, they use the same curry powders generally, it is with chinese they will use more ginger, red chilis, or chili garlic sauce, soya sauce and sugar, some use the Thai or Vietnamese Sriracha chili sauce, it has vinegar and more garlic.
I like lentils and cook a lot of veggie currys as I have limited space to do so, there you can play with flavours and once your sure of the style and strength you like then add chicken, beef (takes a good cooking), but lamb is nice and cooks quickly, I have made it in the microwave and it came out great.
2006-12-23 22:57:56 · answer #2 · answered by The Unknown Chef 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the vinegars used which accompany the curries make me sweat. I guess it depents on what the curries contain and how the food is prepared. Why not check to see if vinegars are used in the foods you buy at the restaurant? MSG? Ginger? Wasabi? These would be a good start.
2006-12-26 21:59:22 · answer #3 · answered by Donald W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
try curries/hot sauces made with Scotch Bonnets (Caribbean)pepper that'll surely burn and make you sweat
2006-12-27 14:01:46 · answer #4 · answered by moglie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should try some really good wasabe...that really travels up your nose...
2006-12-24 08:41:22 · answer #5 · answered by Rachel2312 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
drink tea, merry xmas
2006-12-23 18:23:46 · answer #6 · answered by trykindness 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋