Make American Chilli Powder - It Is Very Different Than the Australian Kind

You see a great  looking recipe for some Mexican or other spicy food on an American Food Site or cookbook.

• You cook it. It looks great.
• The aroma has you shouting, Olé!
• You put it on a plate; anxious to taste it.
• You take that glorious first bit.
• Suddenly you let out a small gasp and yell out “don’t eat it”.

What the heck happened?

I’ll tell you what happened; you used Australian chilli powder in an American recipe.

No, we don’t have hotter chillies, than the Americans, we just make our chilli powder differently.

Australian powder is usually dried and ground chilli. I may be one type of chilli or it may be a blend, but it is all chilli and hot.

In the United States, if it is called, chilli powder it is normally a blend of chilli and other seasonings.
A cup of Aussie chilli has a cup of chilli. A cup of US chilli might a teaspoon in it. The rest will be complimentary spices that give a nice flavour but not much heat.

The advantage to the US method is that the spices do go together and form a good flavour, plus when you make a Tex-Mex meal you have the complete spice all in one container.

In Australia we can buy Mexican Chilli Powder. It is similar to the US kind, but it cost over $3.00 for 30 g (or $100.00 a kilo), and you can't control the different flavors in it.

It is far better to buy cayenne and the other spices and make your own. It is easy to make and will have a better, heartier taste.

The recipe I am going to share will give you a mild chilli powder. If you want it hotter you can just add more cayenne. You can also adjust the other spices to suit your taste.
If I am serving to guest I normally use the mild in the cooking and have some additional spice on the table.

List of ingredients to use and suggested amounts

• 12 teaspoons sweet paprika (might just be called paprika, or Hungarian paprika)
• 6 teaspoons dried oregano
• 6 teaspoons ground cumin
• 6 teaspoons granulated garlic
• 3 teaspoons granulated onion
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Some Suggested Uses for Grandpa's American Chilli Powder: general spice for Mexican cooking, taco and burrito seasoning, sprinkle on nachos, sprinkle on hamburgers before cooking them - this will give them a good Mexican taste, dust on chicken wings and cook in the oven, or on the bbq, flavour Mexican Beans.