Make Your Own Chili Powder
I use a lot of mixed spices when I cook, such as Italian spice mix or Herbes de Provence, but ALWAYS make my own chili powder. Not only do I use it in chili, but it also comes in handy as a dry rub for barbecue roasts and for sloppy joe or burrito seasoning.
There are two problems with store bought chili powder as far as I am concerned. The first is the heat and flavor control. Chili powder is a mixture of several ingredients, and when you buy something pre-mixed you don’t get to change the mixture. With spicy blends this is especially important, because it is very hard to reduce the heat after it has been put in! The other problem is freshness. Chili powder is made from dried chilies which can lose their flavor over time. This applies to the mild chilies just as much as the hot ones; in fact the heat can remain much longer than the flavor. To me there is no reason a chili powder should be hot and flavorless at the same time.
The first step in making chili powder is the selection of the chilies. There are many types, and you want to choose at least 3 different types to get a full range of flavor and heat. The rule of thumb is that the larger the chili, the milder it is. Don’t take this as gospel, as chilies are plants, so there will be some variation even within the same variety. I like to pick two types of chilies for mildness and flavor, and either one or two for heat.
The following is a list of some of the milder chilies: Poblano (when dried they are called “Ancho” chilies), Pasilla, New Mexico, and California or Anaheim. You can add a lot of these with little danger of being overly spicy. New Mexico peppers are especially good for this.
The hotter chilies include: Arbol, Cayenne, Jalapeno (when smoked they are known as “Chipotle”), Habanero, Serrano and Scotch Bonnet. The first three are hot without being lethal, but you may want to avoid the last three until you have some kind of immunity built up, as they are among the hottest foods in the world.
To prepare your chilies for drying, cut them in half length-wise and remove the stems and seeds. When doing this, be sure NOT to rub your eyes until after you have completely washed your hands; there is nothing more painful to the eyes than peppers, not even onions! Lay the chilies on a baking sheet and bake for a few minutes at 300 degrees. Smaller chilies will dry out sooner, so you will need to check every 2 minutes or so.
Once all your chilies are sufficiently dried put them in a blender, food processor or coffee grinder (I keep one just for spices; you won’t want to use a grinder for coffee afterwards!) until you get a fine powder. This is the base for your chili powder.
The three remaining ingredients that I add are cumin, paprika and dried oregano. I use about half the amount of cumin as the pepper powder, and the same amount again of paprika, but as with the selection of peppers you can play with the mix until you are satisfied. You don’t need a lot of oregano, in fact I sometimes leave it out altogether until I use the powder.
Some people will add garlic powder, but I don’t do this because I do not like to use artificial ingredients, and these are normally present in commercially available garlic powder. Besides, I can add fresh garlic to anything I put the chili powder anyway!
Keep this in an airtight jar, and it will last for ages. It can lose flavor over time, but if your chilies were dried enough there should be no danger of it going bad.
Watch for an upcoming post on killer Chili, where this powder will play a starring role!
Yours in Good Taste,
Erik Christensen