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Dried chillies

Dried whole chillies

Capsicum spp.

Whole dried red chilli pods, fried in tadka, toasted, or soaked and blended into pastes and sauces.

Also called: dried red chilies, ancho chiles, guajillo, kashmiri chillies, arbol, sabut lal mirch

  • Hot & numbing
  • Smoky & roasted
  • Fruity & sour
  • Medium
Buying & storing146 recipes

Flavour and aroma

hot, fruity, toasty when fried. Fruity to smoky, mild to very hot depending on type.

Heat
Medium
Forms
whole, flakes, ground

How to use it

  • bloom in fat · Tadka (tempering) technique

    Break in half and fry in hot oil for 10–20 seconds, until a shade darker and puffed, for tadka. Black chillies taste bitter.

  • dry roast · Spice roasting (dry-roasting) technique

    For masala powders, roast over low heat for 2–3 minutes until crisp and fragrant, or fry in a teaspoon of oil until crisp.

  • soak

    For pastes (vindaloo, ghee roast), remove stems and seeds and soak in hot water for 20–30 minutes, then grind with a little of the water or vinegar.

  • Whole in tadka for dal, sambar and chutneys
  • Soaked and blended for vindaloo or Mexican mole and adobo
  • Fried with Sichuan pepper in kung pao chicken
  • Infusing chilli oils
  • Ground into masalas

Identifying good quality

Whole red to dark red pods, glossy and flexible, not brittle and faded. Indian types range from mild, wrinkled colour chillies (Kashmiri, byadgi) to small, hot ones (Guntur, bird's eye).

Origin and history

Origin: The Americas (Mexico, Central and South America).. Grown and used: India is the world's largest producer and exporter of dried chillies; Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka grow the most..

Chillies were brought to India by the Portuguese in the 16th century and quickly replaced long pepper and black pepper as the main source of heat. Whole dried red chillies (sabut lal mirch) are now used in tempering, masalas and pastes across South Asia.

Well documented

In masalas, pastes and sauces

Recipes with dried whole chillies

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