The Chilli Isn't Indian: How Heat Came to Indian Cooking
Chilli is not Indian. It arrived about five hundred years ago.
At Madras Cafe, the Indian restaurant on Stockwell Street in Glasgow city centre, chilli runs through the menu, from the crushed Guntur chillies in our Chicken Madras to the Kashmiri chilli on the grill. It is hard to picture Indian food without it. Yet five hundred years ago chilli did not exist in Indian kitchens, as Deccan Herald notes. So what gave Indian food its heat before? And how did a plant from the other side of the world end up at the centre of it?
What was hot before chilli
The answer is pepper. The main sources of heat in Indian cooking were black pepper and pippali, or long pepper, a hotter cousin of black pepper. The English word pepper itself comes from pipali, an old Indian word for long pepper, according to Tastes of History. The Romans prized it so highly that long pepper cost about twice as much as black, and the Roman treasury stockpiled pepper in dedicated warehouses.
So when Indian cooks wanted fire, they reached for pepper. Hold on to that thought, because it is still on the menu.
A plant from the Americas
Every chilli in the world began in Mexico, Central America or South America, where people have eaten them for thousands of years. YaleGlobal explains how Columbus found them in the Caribbean while searching for the pepper of India. He called them pimiento, the Spanish word for pepper, and the confusion stuck. In Europe chillies picked up names like Calicut pepper and Indian pepper, and it was not until 1868 that Europeans learned they were not originally from India at all.
The real route ran through Portugal. Portuguese ships reached India in 1498, and in the 16th century their traders carried chillies from Brazil via Lisbon to their settlements in Africa and Asia. One botanist of the time even called chillies from Goa "Pernambuco peppers", after the Brazilian region they came from.
Goa first, then everywhere
In India, chillies landed first in the Portuguese colony of Goa. From there they spread to Maharashtra and the south, according to Deccan Herald.
They caught on for simple reasons. Chillies were easier to grow than pepper, thrived in many kinds of soil and climate, could be harvested all year and were cheap. They spread quickly and replaced expensive black pepper as the everyday spice.
The north was slower. The Ain-i-Akbari, a record from 1590 of the Mughal emperor Akbar's court, lists 50 dishes that all used pepper and none that used chilli. Chilli reached the north in the 17th century, carried by the Maratha army of Shivaji as it marched against the Mughals. It started in pickles and chutneys and only moved into other dishes by the 18th century.
The name still gives the game away. In Coorg, in Karnataka, one small chilli is called parangi malu, which means foreign chilli.
What the Portuguese left in the kitchen
The Portuguese brought more than a plant, and you can taste it in two dishes on our menu.
Lamb Cafreal. Cafreal came to Goa from Portugal's African colonies, most likely Mozambique, introduced by the Portuguese and the African soldiers who served them. Wikipedia's entry on cafreal says the classic version is chicken with green chillies and fresh coriander. Our Lamb Cafreal cooks tender lamb with fresh baby spinach and cream, and it is herby and aromatic.
Sea Bass Mollee. This one comes from Kerala, where trade with Portugal left its mark on the dish. The story told about fish molee is that Kerala's fish curries were too fiery for the Portuguese, so a woman called Molly softened one with coconut milk and swapped red chillies for green, as Gulf News recounts. It is a legend rather than a record, but the dish it describes is real. Our Sea Bass Mollee is a sea bass fillet stewed in coconut milk with ginger, black pepper and curry leaves, and it is one of our award-winning dishes.
Where the heat lives now
Five centuries later, chilli is thoroughly Indian, and each region has its own favourite.
Guntur, in Andhra Pradesh, is India's largest chilli trading hub, as Deccan Herald notes. Our Chicken Madras uses crushed Guntur chillies, and our Madras Potatoes use Guntur chilli flakes. Kashmiri chilli goes into the marinades for our Tandoori Sea Bass and Madaresee Chicken Tikka and into the sauce for the Lamb Shank Rogan Josh. For more on the clay oven those marinated dishes are cooked in, see our piece on tandoori food and the clay oven.
And pepper never went away. Our Goan Tiger Prawn is cooked in coconut milk with crushed black pepper, mustard seeds, curry leaves and ginger. The potatoes in our Masala Dosa are seasoned with crushed black pepper too. It is the older heat, and it is still on the plate.
How to order your heat
A simple guide, using our own menu:
Mild and creamy: Chicken Tikka Masala is mild and flavoursome, and Chicken Korma is a rich sauce of coconut and cream.
Herby and coconut-led: Lamb Cafreal is cooked with baby spinach and cream, and Sea Bass Mollee is stewed in coconut milk.
Hot: Chicken Madras, made with crushed Guntur chillies. Our menu warns that it is not for the faint-hearted.
To cool things down: House Raita, a Greek yoghurt side with pomegranate, cucumber and herbs, or a Honey Mango Lassi.
Chilli is only one part of Indian cooking. Tell your server how much heat you like and they will point you in the right direction. We are a short walk from Glasgow Central Station, and you can book a table here. More stories like this are on our Food Stories page.
Frequently asked questions
When did chilli come to India?
In the 16th century, carried by Portuguese traders. It arrived first in Goa and then spread to Maharashtra and the south.
What did Indian food use for heat before chilli?
Black pepper and long pepper, known in India as pippali.
Why did chilli replace black pepper in Indian cooking?
Chillies were easier to grow, cheaper and available all year, so they spread quickly and replaced the more expensive black pepper as the everyday source of heat.
Is all Indian food hot?
No. Heat is only one part of it. Dishes such as korma and fish molee are built on coconut and cream rather than chilli, while others, such as a Madras curry, are built around it.
Which Madras Cafe dishes are hot?
The Chicken Madras, made with crushed Guntur chillies, is our hot curry. Chicken Tikka Masala is mild. Tell your server how much heat you like and they will guide you.