What is colourless, tasteless, odourless and painful?

The answer is Capsaicin – the compound that puts the ‘heat’ into chillies. Reports have shown that despite it’s immediate effect on the human body (burning sensations, sweating, a quickened pulse, and even tears), Capsaicin surprisingly causes no long term problems. In fact, it’s being used as pain relief, filling our veins with endorphins, and masking any pain, like a natural morphine high.

Could this be the reason that more and more of the western world are falling in love with ‘spicy foods’ and our regular diet is heating up? Hot chillies used to be regarded as exotic, and only found in Indian, Thai or Mexican cuisine, but they’re now a staple ingredient in almost everything from supermarket ready meals to cocktails in a club.

It seems that the globalisation of chillies has helped the western world grow a tolerance to Capsaicin, and we’re craving more. 50 years ago our parents and grandparents would have claimed that a Chicken Tikka Masala was unbearably hot. These days the much hotter Jalfrezi is the most ordered dish in the UK.

Recipes used to warn against using more than a pinch of cayenne pepper or chilli powder. And yet for some curry-lovers, even standard-strength Tabasco sauce, the world's best-selling chilli-based condiment, may be too mild! The Louisiana-based company now produces an extra-hot version, made with habanero peppers, the fieriest of the most popular chillies.

For the true “heat geeks”, however, even the habenero is considered tame. The hottest known chilli pepper at present is the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend, which currently holds the Scoville Heat Units world record with a rating of 2 million – hotter than ‘pepper spray’. Pure Capsaicin scores 16 million on the Scoville scale.

As well as being an effective pain-killer, there are lots of health benefits for using chillies in your diet, and it seems that this craving for heat will have good effects in the long run. But will this create more demand for even hotter chillies we wonder? What do you think?

Chocolate Curry Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream

Ingredients
(makes 6)
For the cupcakes:

• 25g cocoa powder
• 80ml boiling water
• 1 large egg
• 105g  plain flour
• 110g caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon medium curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 75g unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the frosting:

• 40ml coconut milk
• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 200g icing/powdered sugar
• A pinch of salt

Cooking Directions 

1.     Preheat the oven to 170C/325F. Line a cupcake tin with paper cases.

2.     In a mug, mix the cocoa powder with boiling water until you have a smooth paste.

3.     In a small bowl, whisk the egg with 1 teaspoon of the cocoa mixture until fully combined. 

4.     Sift all of the dry ingredients together into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the butter and cocoa and beat on low until all the dry ingredients are wet. Increase the speed to medium and beat for a couple of minutes until the mixture is smooth. 

5.     Add half of the beaten egg and beat for 30 seconds. Add the rest of the egg and beat again for 30 seconds or until all the egg has been incorporated. 

6.     Spoon the batter into cupcake cases, filling them about 3/4 full. 

7.     Bake for 20-25 minutes until firm to the touch. Place on a wire rack to cool.

8.     To make the buttercream, beat the butter and half the sugar together until smooth. Add the coconut milk and salt and beat until incorporated. Gradually add the rest of the sugar, continuing to beat, until you have reached the desired consistency. For more baked goodies see: www.londonbakes.com 

Cardamom Celebrates Decade of Good Food!

Award winning Cardiff restaurant Cardamom has recently had its ten year anniversary. The restaurant, which is part of the British Curry Club, has won numerous awards and achieved countless critical acclaim from reviewers and customers alike. Located in the heart of Cardiff, Cardamom offers a fine dining experience for its customers ensuring good service and a warm return. But what exactly is it the secret to their ten year success?

Beneath the Cardamom logo printed on their website and all takeaway menus is the slogan “Fine Indian Dining” – and it is this exact reason which sets them apart. Offering a sophisticated fine dining experience as a contrast to your ordinary curry house, Cardamom prides itself on phenomenal service and as is mentioned on their website – ‘changing the perceptions of the subcontinent’s cuisine’.

Judging by the ever-rising popularity of this Cardiff restaurant, it would appear that Cardamom experience provides exactly what it says on the tin. It’s even fully booked on Christmas day with many opting to swap their traditional roast in favour of a slightly less festive but equally delicious spicy feast!

Boasting a plethora of awards including “Welsh Curry House of the Year 2007” and “Restaurant of the Year” and consistently rising to the challenge to eliminate the opposition it is clear that Cardamom and its outstanding cuisine are here to stay. Chaat! Magazine would like to wish them another 10 years filled with success, and most importantly: great spicy food! 

Cardamom
http://www.cardamom.org.uk/
@CardamomCardiff

Veg Out This Summer with Jeannine McAndrew

Summer has finally arrived, and it’s the
perfect opportunity to relax outdoors with your nearest and dearest. One great way to enjoy some family time is to get the kids involved in growing food with you. Even toddlers will relish watering plants and delving around in a tub to pull up baby new potatoes, while older kids can be given their own plot to tend.  The sun has got his gardening gloves on, let’s give him a hand...

If you put aside an hour or two this weekend you could be harvesting delicious crops in just six weeks.
You don’t need an allotment or a huge garden – there are all manner of containers that you can put on the patio or a sunny windowsill. Grow bags are ideal for a range of vegetables, and ‘Gro-sacks’ are now available which are specially designed for growing veg on patios. If space is at a premium, you can also plant
vegetables in any spare spots in between other plants in your garden; spinach and red cabbages are decorative in their own right.

Getting Prepared
If you want to create your own kitchen garden area, draw up a scale plan so you know exactly
how much room you have available. This will help you make the most of every centimetre.
If you’re using pots and growbags, place them close together with the tallest ones at the back. This creates a microclimate and makes them easier to water. If you have the space, raised beds are a great idea. They look great and can make it much easier to tend your plants. You can also enhance the growing conditions inside the beds by adding plenty of garden compost or well-rotted manure. Stylish kits are available
online, or you could speak to your local scaffolding company as you may be able to pick up some boards for free. First put stakes deep in the ground (whacking them with a club hammer will do the trick), then nail the
boards in place. They can be any length, but aim for them to be no more than 1m wide so
that you can easily lean over to harvest your delicious crops.

Do’s & Don’ts!
DO...

• Water your veg regularly. The morning or evening is the most effective time as less moisture is lost through evaporation.
•  Give plants a good deep drench once a day or every two days. This encourages them to send their roots deep into the ground.
•  Keep harvesting veg like tomatoes, beans and spinach regularly to encourage plants to keep producing more.
•  Look out for tiny butterfly eggs on the underside of cabbage leaves. Gently rub them off between finger and thumb.
• Weed little and often. Use a hoe between your rows of veg, or pull up weeds by hand, before they get a chance to become established.

DON’T...

• Stop planting new seeds. Get into a routine of sowing a few rows every few weeks so you have a succession of fresh, tender crops.
• Waste any of your crops – if you have more than you can eat, cook large pots of your favourite dishes and freeze them in handy portion sizes, or invite friends and family round for a feast!
• Be afraid to experiment – a long, hot summer is the perfect time to try growing more exotic veg like okra or aubergines.
• Skimp on plant food – a regular application of an organic feed such as liquid seaweed makes all the difference to the health, vigour and flavour of your crops.

For the full feature see Chaat! Magazine Issue 2
By Jeannine McAndrew

Bangladesh Sundarbans

I was very young when I first arrived in England in the early 70s. I have returned on many occasions, but I’ve never felt I’d seen the real Bangladesh. All I knew was the sanitised and guarded evergreen view of my hometown of Moulvi Bazar. I wanted to explore the true country that I was born in. I wanted to see the true Bangladesh, and the Sundarbans was at the very top of my wish list. The largest mangrove forest in the world, the Sundarbans covers an area of 10,000 square kilometers that spans both Bangladesh and India. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a shortlist to the New 7 Wonders Of The World, it’s home to one of the most impressive animals on our planet, the Royal Bengal Tiger, an animal I’d wanted to see in its natural habitat all my life. I started planning my visit and contacted The Sundarbans Tiger Project.

The Sundarbans Tiger Project (STP) was set up by the Bangladesh Forest Department
in 2004 as a scientific research project with help from the University of Minnesota. It was initially set up to find out about the Sundarban’s tigers and how best to conserve them. Since then the STP has teamed up
with The Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh and The Zoological Society of London to expand their work further. To spend any time with these devoted conservationists was a true honour. My first destination was The Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh where I met with Henry Churchill, the STP Campaigns Manager and his conservation team, Dr Adam Barlow and Christina Greenwood. Dr Barlow explained how the project works in tandem with The Bangladeshi Forest Department and is committed in becoming leaders in tiger conservation through research. They’re also dedicated to the reduction of tiger and human conflict via their Tiger Response Team. Tigers are known to wander into villages and attack or kill humans: between 15 and 50 people killed on average every year in the region.

The team wants to help build relations with local people and avoid unnecessary suffering from tiger attacks. Or indeed retaliation attacks on tigers. A recent development has been a new resource centre set up by the Bangladesh Wildlife Trust and STP to help future generations on the issues of conservation. But they’re a tiny team and have thousands of kilometers to cover; the work is never ending.

Full article in Chaat! Magazine (issue 1)
By Nazmul Islam

Immune Boosting Curry

SERVES 2–3

1 large onion, coarsely

chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 red chilli, coarsely chopped

olive oil, for cooking

2.5cm piece fresh root ginger,

peeled and coarsely chopped

200g cherry tomatoes,

coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons mild curry powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon garam masala

400g raw peeled king prawns

3 tablespoons full-fat live

probiotic yoghurt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

small handful fresh coriander

leaves, coarsely chopped

(optional)

sea salt

Heat a little olive oil in a large pan, add the

onion purée and the chopped ginger, season

with salt and cook for about 10 minutes, or until

the purée has changed colour. It will go much

darker in colour and become less pungent in

both taste and aroma.

Once the purée has reached this stage, add

the cherry tomatoes and all the spices except

the cinnamon. Continue to cook for another

10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the king prawns and the yoghurt and cook

for a further 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

At this stage, stir in the cinnamon and garnish

with the chopped coriander, if using. Serve with

cooked quinoa and a green salad, if you like.

Recipe from The Medicinal Chef by Dale Pinnock (Quadrille, £18.99)

Photograph: Martin Poole