Cheesy Chilli or Not as the Case May Be!

Asked by Beanie3. Answered on 21st November 2010

Full question

The cheesy chilli recipe in the new 'Kitchen' book doesn't contain any chilli! Please advise how much I should put in it!! Thanks x

I made this last night and afterwards realised that there was in fact no chilli in the recipe! Is this correct? I must admit I panicked and added some but perhaps the spices in the chorizo were meant to be enough?

Our answer

The base of the cheesy chilli is raw chorizo sausage. This type of chorizo is usually already slightly spicy with hot paprika. The red-orange oil that the chorizo give off as it fries is the base for the flavouring of the dish, so we do not add any extra chilli. The dish also has oregano - chillies and oregano are usually the base of most commercial chilli powders. Worcestershire sauce also adds a tang to the dish.

The cheesy chilli is also meant to be piquant rather than fiery hot. The heat from chillies tends to be tempered by dairy products so adding the mozzarella cheese at the end will start to offset any heat from extra added chillies or chilli powder.