Can I substitute a New Mexican dried red pepper for fire roasted chilis?

July 20, 2014 9:15 PM

I'm cooking this recipe and it calls for one 7-oz can of fire roasted chilis. Can I substitute a NM dried red pepper? I also have crushed red pepper, but I'm not sure if either would be a good option.
posted by onecircleaday to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

Best answer: You could. Roasted green chiles and dried red chiles have COMPLETELY different flavors. We're talking mustard vs. ketchup. That said, the recipe would be fine if you used dried red chiles instead. It'll just be different from what the author intended.

Just be warned that the red chiles are probably going to be quite a bit hotter. If I were you, I'd put one or two whole dried chiles in the lentils while the stuff cooks and then remove them before serving. If you chop them up, you're going to add a hell of a lot of heat to a recipe that sounds very mild.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:50 PM on July 20, 2014

Response by poster: Will do. Thank you!
posted by onecircleaday at 9:59 PM on July 20, 2014

The flavor will be very different, but it will still turn out good. You'll want to use 2 or 3 large dried NM chiles, and toast them in a hot, dry skillet or over a flame, until you smell toasty chiles, but before they smoke. Then break off the tops, shake out the seeds, and rehydrate them in hot water for 30 minutes. Chop them (more important than with canned green chiles, because these can be a little tougher to break apart while cooking), and add with a bit of the soaking liquid.
posted by WasabiFlux at 10:59 PM on July 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

also you will probably want to add an extra cup of liquid: a lot of that 7 oz is water.
posted by mr vino at 4:02 AM on July 21, 2014

toast them in a hot, dry skillet or over a flame

You and anyone else in your house will be happier if you turn on a vent fan over the stove that takes air outside while you are doing this, or just toast them outside.
posted by yohko at 5:58 PM on July 21, 2014