Quick Cooking Advice Needed

[javadu]

As you can tell by my post, I cook very little. In any case, I love hot spicy food.

The other day, I had some soup made by someone I don't really know. In any case, the food was very spicy, but not tomatoey (is that a word) or tangy. So -- I love tomatoes and tanginess, but I would like to make my lentil soup spicy hot without making it tangy or tomatoey. Do any of you know how to do that? Am I making just imagining the taste I had the other day?

Thanks to all of you.

[Rosemary2205]

1. A few choices

curry powder
hot paprika
hot peppers (dried or fresh)
cayine powder (misspelled)
cajun spice
smoked ancho chilis in the can

An experiment with a blend of those

When I make pintos I go for the cajun spice, a little red onion, and the canned anchos

That's my humble opinion.

[yewberry]

2. Cayenne powder will do that.

A little goes a long way, I should warn you.

I've never done it, but I think that chipotle (smoked jalapeno) would be good in lentil soup. It's a smoky heat that might be really nice with lentils.

Good luck!
:hi:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. I Took Cayenne Pepper Capsules Once. Was S'posed To Aid In Digestion. Worst. Firehole. Ever.

Not sure why I felt the need to post that. Ahhhhh well.

[yewberry]

5. Well, ah, thanks. Hope you're feeling better these days.

I suppose I should be used to it...my husband 'overshares' sometimes, too.

[petronius]

6. Now there's a word I didn't expect to see on DU

:rofl: and :spray: and :rofl: again...

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. What do you mean by spicy?

A definition of terms would be good.

Spicy hot, as in jalapeño and other hot peppers, or spicy as in "a lot of spices", such as nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon; or "spicy" as in "herbs and spices" such as tarragon, thyme, rosemary, and the above mentioned spices?

[DemoTex]

7. Best sauce in the world is red, without a tomato in it. Sriracha (Rooster sauce).

Walk into almost any professional kitchen in America and you’re bound to find it somewhere: a crimson bottle with a viridescent tip, a bold rooster emblazoned on the front. But Sriracha, the badass Thai-style hot sauce, isn’t in these kitchens because chefs serve it to customers (though I’d bet it finds its way into more restaurant dishes than we know). It’s there because cooks put this stuff on everything they eat. And so should you.

Perhaps truer words were never written than the blurb that adorns the back of each bottle:

Sriracha, made from sun ripened chiles, is ready to use in soups, sauces, pasta, pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, chow mein or on anything to add a delicious, spicy taste.

It’s that “delicious, spicy taste,” with its hint of exoticism, that sets this stuff apart. It’s really only four ingredients: chiles, garlic, vinegar, and sugar. But that combination (with some salt and preservatives thrown in for good measure) is far greater than the sum of its parts. Go ahead and put it on pizza. Put it on a burger. Put it on any old thing, and that thing—empanadas, a plate of scrambled eggs, whatever—will turn into something gloriously, fabulously new. Sriracha imparts heat, sure. But it also imparts greatness.

http://www.gourmet.com/food/2008/02/sriracha?printable=true

I use Rooster in clear soups too, like my famous Cajun/Thai Collard Soup (with Andouille sausage and cilantro).

[javadu]

8. Thanks --- Everyone

You all make it sound so easy, but I have so little experience with this. I like stuff spicy HOT!! But, I usually use some tomato based hot sauce for this effect. I am just looking for some alternative ways of getting the heat without the tomatos. I will try many of the ideas on here. Especially the cayenne powder!!