Chillichap's World

Hello! I was fifteen when I ventured into one of the takeaway restaurants along Oxford’s Cowley Road for some chips. The Cowley Road is an amazing place with restaurants, delis, and takeaways from most world cuisines. Anyway, I was in a small queue and saw to the left of the counter this giant grey slab of meat rotating on a spit. It looked like an elephant’s leg. The aroma was overwhelming and to be honest, at the time, I remember thinking I didn’t like the look of the large hunk of meat on the spit or the aroma.  One of the guys in front asked for a doner kebab and the man behind the counter slammed a pitta bread onto a hot plate and produced a very long slim carving knife and began delicately taking slices off the meat into what looked like a small frying pan, only one end of it had been cut off. The staff member asked what the man wanted with it, pointing below the counter. There in about ten different compartments were all sorts of salads including sliced onion, tomatoes, and ...

Hello! My first experience of curry was at the hands of my aunt who regimentally made a curry on Mondays with the Sunday Roast leftovers. Onions were fried with a big spoonful of Sainsbury's Madras curry powder. Stock was added and all the leftovers of the Sunday roast were put into the pan and simmered. Extra always included a chopped apple and sultanas. This was served on a large dish with perfectly cooked Uncle Ben's boil-in-the-bag rice. Fortunately, I loved it. At the time, the only way of adding heat was to cover the dish with ground white pepper. Which I did without hesitation. Occasionally I'd get a Vesta curry-which came dried and had to be rehydrated. This I liked too-I knew no better. It wasn't until the tender age of 18, that I ventured to my first ever Indian restaurant-The Moonlight Tandoori Restaurant, down Oxford's Cowley Road, with my wife-to-be. We were so naive that we didn't even know we had to order rice separately! I ordered the only thing ...

  Chilli Sauce Review: [Review - Tabasco Original Pepper Hot Sauce] Introduction Hello! Well, as the name Chillichap implies, I'm rather fond of anything chilli. When I was growing and attending sixth form, I worked in a college kitchen to earn some extra pennies and run my motorbike. I was eighteen and actually knew very little about food and drink, only that I loved it. One of the jobs as a kitchen porter was to clean out the massive store cupboard. It was like entering another world with condiments and ingredients that I'd never heard of. One was  Tabasco Original Red Pepper Hot Sauce.  Now at this point, my only source of heat came in the form of white pepper. I smothered everything with it, so it looked like whatever I ate had massive dandruff! Anyway, back to the college store cupboard. We (me and the other kitchen porters)used to take a teaspoon into the cupboard and try things. That fateful day I tried the Tabasco sauce and never looked back. Indeed, I bought a bo...

Hello! As someone whose name is Chillichap, it's no surprise that I have a great love for all things chili. I usually have an average of about a dozen different chili sauces in my cupboard, which are usually stacked next to the cooker. I first discovered Mr. Naga about four years ago in a Deli in Stroud, and it remains one of my biggest regrets in life that I didn't find it earlier. I can't stress enough how awesome it is, and I'm going to tell you why. The jar may be small, only 190g, but don't let that deceive you. It contains 12 ingredients, including hot pepper (70% Naga Morich), salt, vinegar (from barley), vegetable oil, paprika, citric acid e330 (an acidity regulator), sodium benzoate e211 (a preserving agent), and mixed spices. Although it may seem simple, the "mixed spices" are where the real magic happens. The Naga Morich chillis give it a unique taste and heat. These chillies are traditionally grown in Bangladesh and North East India and are rel...

 Hello All I thought I'd talk about one of my favourite dishes of all time - chilli con carne. I actually cook chilli con carne or chilli as I call it, virtually every week for me and my family. Everyone loves it, but it's taken a while to get my kids on board, mainly because I rarely compromise with the heat. It's got to live up to it's name right? I've been cooking chilli for nearly 40 years and I suppose it's evolved over time. When I pile my ingredients into my wok, I feel like an artist that will always produce a wonderful work of art and occasionally a masterpiece. You see, I don't measure my ingredients. I may have measured ingredients out in the early days of my cooking, but I can barely remember this.   Why do I love it so? Well, taste obviously. Although I say it myself, it's delicious. Each mouthful is a meaty, beaney, spicy hit. Chilli is definitely a desert island dish for me because I've never got tired of having it. It's also incre...