I’m making an Ancho Chili tonight, which calls for ancho chile powder. In my rush at the grocery store this morning, I accidently picked up dried, chopped ancho chiles. Will my chili be OK if I sub the dried chiles for the chili powder? Should I add/subtract the amount of chiles needed? The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of the chile powder
Chili powder is ground up chili pepper - a different type than Ancho peppers. Chili peppers would be hotter, AFAIK. I’ve personally never eaten an Ancho pepper, either.
That said, you shouldn’t have any problem using dried chopped Anchos. The taste might be a bit different, but since you’re making Ancho Chili anyways, that’s probably not important.
You might consider running them through a blender to make a powder, because sometimes dried peppers don’t reconstitute well, and can be chewy and cutting sharp.
AFAIK, when a recipe calls for chile powder, it means ground up dried chiles. Regular chili powder has other stuff in it, like garlic, oregano, and cumin. If you grind up what you bought in a blender or food processor, you will have what your recipe calls for. Hope this helps.
Seems like everyone so far has missed your point. Ancho chiles are dry by defintion. The green version is a poblano pepper. Ancho chili powder is just ground up dried poblano chile peppers, nothing else added. Ancho chiles are pretty mild. I would reconstitute the dried ones in warm water for about an hour, then process them with a little water until they’re mush, then add to the chili. Go by taste, since the heat factor will be negligible.
I had already tried chopping them in the food processor - all I got there was a big mess, and dried chiles all over the countertop.
Chefguy - I was leaning toward rehydrating them, and adding them straight to the chile, but I think your idea makes more sense, since there won’t be any chewy bits of chile floating throughout the chili.
As an addenum, the recipe specifically called for “McCormick’s ancho chile powder” or “Mexican chili powder”, not just the regular ordinary chili powder used in basic chili.
I’d say you’re safe. Remove the seeds though, as they don’t pulverize very well.
Sounds like a “brand name” recipe, so they would obviously recommend their own product, you should be fine. If you need to, simply add the “other” spices as you see fit, cooking does not need to be directly by the book (except baking, that has it’s own set of picky rules). As mentioned above, chili powder (generic red version) has some additional spices such as garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and perhaps some herbal additions.
Let us know how it turns out! What else is in the recipe?
-Butler
(Always looking for cool tweaks to his chili extravaganza!)
Try Penzey’s for good chili ingredients. I usually mix my own ‘chili powder’ by using ancho, cumin, chipotle, Mexican oregano, and Spanish paprika (you would have to order this elsewhere, such as iGourmet.com), with a very small pinch of cinnamon.
Ooh, Ancho is one of my favorites - kinda earthy, raisin-y.
Both methods should work. To make a pure powder, split them, dispose of the stem and seeds, and throw them in a blender or food processor.
Alternatively, split them, dispose of the stem and seeds, reconstitute in hot water, and whirl them in a blender or processor with a little of the water.
To grind dried chiles into a powder, first toast them in a low over or a dry skillet until they are brittle (a low oven is safer, as they can’t burn that way). For grinding, a coffee mill works better than a food processor, not only for dried chiles but for all types of spices. You should use a separate mill from the one you use to grind coffee - you don’t want spices getting into your coffee (or vice versa).
Of course, I meant a low oven, not “over”.
I’m actually a fairly experienced cook, but have never dealt with dried chiles in any form. The recipe was from the Atkins website; entitled Ancho Macho Chili. I was a bit disappointed in the recipe; instead of a thick chili like I like, it was more of a spicy beef stew (also good, but not exactly what I was in the mood for). I actually liked it better when I reheated it for lunch today, and served it as a taco salad (or for the non-Atkins fiance, plain tacos).
Ahh, much better than my response. I forgot about the toasting and coffee grinder. Of course the guy who probably knows the most about cooking with chiles is Rick Bayless. By all means check his books.