Being More Scottish Than Ever: Winning at Tennis AND Stickin' It To The Man

That's right!  Today I'm "mair" Scottish than ever; first because good ol' Andy Murray may become the first Brit in ages to win a Tennis Grand Slam and second I'm fed up of high prices and chemical nonsense in my food and spices so I'm going to stick it to the man by showing you how to make mild lal mirch or paprika. 

First things first; I'm half Scottish, but that doesn't mean I half-heartedly support Murray!  

Let's go all the way with this and let's show the world what awesome stuff Scottish people are made of!  The haggis, oats, turnips, black pepper, cullunskink and delicious sweet toffee that are a part of our culinary repertoire make us tough as nails, stronger than iron and ridiculously good-looking to boot!  Scotland Zindabad!  Andy Murray Zindabad!  Good looking people Zindabad!!!

The ridiculously handsome, luscious lump of loveliness, Andy Murray!  YES!

Next up:  I'm half Scottish but I whole-heartedly agree with the Scottish stereotype of being thrifty.  Spending more than necessary gets my flipping goat.  And, when things are expensive and full of chemical cr*pnitz, it makes me want to grab a claymore, some bagpipes and a bottle of whiskey and work out my frustrations.  You never want to hear me playing the bagpipes, first because I don't know how, and second, if I did, I'm sure I'd be bad at it.  OK!  Let's calm down a bit and stick it to the man.  Let's get busy.

Home-made Mild Lal Mirch or Paprika For Use in Tikka Marinades

All right, so this isn't so much a recipe today as a methodology.  Grab some red capsicums (bell peppers) and if you want your paprika to have a little bite to it, you can add add a couple of hotter peppers to it.  Remember, this spice we're making is used mostly for colour, texture, and a slight bit of tang.  This is not supposed to be a smokin' hot chili powder.

Ok, so cut your capsicums into quarters, and take out the seeds.  Then stick them directly on the racks in your oven, and leave them in there for about 8 hours between 50C and 75C.  If you've got a gas oven with a pilot light, you don't need to increase the temperature.  The pilot light itself keeps the oven at a warm enough temperature.

Now if you want, you can sun-dry the capsicums and peppers.  Just remember to cover them with muslin or bugs will crawl in everywhere.  And don't forget to flip them over halfway through the day.  If it's humid out, it'll take more than a day to sun dry.

Once the capsicums are crispily dried out, either crush them to a powder with a mortar and pestle, or grind them in a spice grinder.  And there you'll have your own paprika, free of artificial cr*p, delicious and slightly sweet and tangy.

Commercially available paprika usually tends to have a slightly bitter flavour, however this beautiful home-made version can be used liberally in tikka recipes without any resulting bitterness.  It will give your BBQ tikkas and kebabs a gorgeous, natural reddish orange colour.  See?  Sticking it to the man by making your own stuff can have beautiful results!

Now I'm off to find my Scotland T-shirt.  Have a great one today, think of Scotland!  Think of ridiculously good-looking people and enjoy the tennis!  Cricket's back on here tomorrow.

Happy Tennis!  Happy Scotland!