How To Cook With Dried Mexican Chillies

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Step-by-step: How to cook with dried chillies

Step 1 – Preparing the chillies

Pull the stem off the top of the chilli. Use your hands or a paring knife to split the chilli open, spatchcock-style. Collect the seeds and put them to one side. You might want to add these to the sauce later, to give it an extra kick. You might prefer to wear gloves during this step – if not, make sure you don’t touch your eyes. It will burn.

Step 2 – Toasting the chillies

Traditionally, toasting is done on a heavy, cast iron skillet – but a frying pan will work, and it can even be done on charcoal if you happen to have a barbecue on the go.

Pressing a chilli against a dry pan until it blisters is a counter-intuitive process for a European cook. Traditionally, recipes start with oil or butter in a pan – so forcing out extra flavour by blistering the chillies directly against a hot surface may feel like a brutal technique.

The toasting process intensifies the flavour though, and introduces rich, caramelised notes to a dish. 

Step-by-step

• Heat a stainless steel or cast-iron skillet on the hob.
• Divide your dried chillies into a few batches, to toast individually. That helps control the heat better. 
• Use a wooden spatula to press the chilli flesh down onto the dry heat, so that it starts to blister and turn a darker colour. This should take between 35-45 seconds.  
• For more bitter notes, suitable for some recipes, go a step further and toast the chillies until blackened – for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Blacken the seeds separately. You can add these later for extra heat if needed.

Step 3 – Soaking the chillies

Once the chillies have all been toasted, pour over boiling water. This rehydrates them – and the flesh will become moist and supple.

Some writers suggest that it's important not to soak the chillies in a too large volume of boiling water, as it will leach out too much flavour, and also recommend gentle simmering for 15-20 minutes. We prefer the easier route below.

Step-by-step to soak chillies

• Pour water from a freshly boiled kettle over the chillies, and leave in a bowl to soak for at least 5 minutes – they are not in hot water for too long such that they loose flavour, and the soaking water can always be added to the sauce or stew later. 
• Chillies float, so rest a plate or mug over them to keep them submerged.

Step 4 – Blending the chillies

This is the point that the sauce starts to take shape, and some decisions need to be made.

Which ingredients should be blend with the chillies?

• A traditional chilli paste will might use blackened onions and garlic, along with a selection of other seasonings such as Mexican cumin and oregano. Alternatively just use the soaked chillies alone for a simpler flavour.
• Use a blender to turn the ingredients into a thick paste – adding a little oil or the soaking water to help the mixture keep together.
• Taste the blended mixture, if you want it slightly hotter add a teaspoon of blackened chilli seeds at a time, and blend again.

What is the correct consistency?

• To create a chilli sauce with pouring consistency, blend the chillies together with fresh or tinned tomatillos, tomatoes, or even a little stock or oil.
• If the chilli paste is being used as a marinade, then it’s best to keep it in its richest, most intense form while it flavours the meat – as in the Mexican birria recipe. It can then be thinned out at a later stage in the recipe.

What should the texture be?

• Some people will strain the sauce through a sieve to make it perfectly smooth.
• Others will leave the sauce in a more rustic and textured form – there’s no right or wrong, just personal preference.

Step 5 – Cooking the paste (optional)

As with a tomato sauce, the process of slow-cooking a chilli sauce or paste will enrich and deepen the flavour. Pour a little oil into the bottom of a deep frying pan, and then add the paste. Heat to just below a simmer, and keep an eye on it – stirring occasionally – for 20 minutes or so. By the end of cooking, the colours deepen, and the hard edges of the paste will mellow to a full-flavoured rounded sauce.

Two chilli recipe ideas, to get started

1. Simple all-purpose three chilli paste

An all-purpose chilli paste to keep on hand to add richness and spice to almost any dish: add a couple of tablespoons to a chilli con carne, add a teaspoon to a fresh zingy tomato salsa, or add a little salt and use to marinade a pork shoulder before slow-roasting. For approx 200g of chilli paste, use 4 (approx 30g) of each chilli - 90g of dried chillies in total.

Ingredients:

• 4 ancho chillies,
• 4 guajillo chillies,
• 4 pasilla chillies

Method:

1. Prepare chillies as in steps 1 to 5 above.
2. Add a teaspoon of sugar to the paste.
3. Store in an airtight jar in the fridge covered in a little oil.

2. Salsa de chile de Arbol

Recommended to us by our chilli supplier, this is the perfect accompaniment to tacos. Plus it can be made straight from the store cupboard in 10 mins.

Ingredients: 

• 3 chile de arbol,
• 3 cloves garlic (unpeeled),
• 10 tomatillos (half a can)

Method:

1. Prepare chillies using steps 1-4 above. They are small and tender so only need soaking for 5 mins.
2. Whilst the chillies soak, strain the tomatillos, and blacken for around 5 mins in a hot skillet.
3. Remove to a blender, and then blacken the garlic cloves. Peel the garlic, and blend together the peeled garlic, soaked chillies, and tomatillos.
4. Serve with tacos, or even for dipping tortilla chips.

Browse more Mexican recipes here, or if you're keen to get cracking with Mexican food, perhaps pick up our Mexican Cookbook & Ingredients set.