Addicted to chillis.

I love spicy food, you've probably noticed that a lot of the things I eat have got chilli in there in one form or another. Who says life without meat should be bland?! There are so many ways you can pep up average sauces, risottos etc with a kick of chilli! I know spicy hot food isn't to everyone's taste but there are mild, smokey, fruity chillis available to suit every taste bud.

My family have been using dried chillis from South Devon Chilli Farm for a while and I thought I'd talk to through some of our favourites. 

The piquin

These chillis are really little, but don't be fooled, they are still pretty hot! We have these in a chilli grinder which makes it super easy to add to pasta sauces, risotto etc. They are easy to chop or crumble and because they are so small, it's a great way of adding a little kick to a family meal. You can get them here and the chilli grinder here.

The chipotle morita

A funny looking dried chilli, might not look that appetising but it will add a lovely subtle smokey flavour to your meal. I used these when I made enchiladas as featured in my What I Ate This Week #2. These are great in veggie chillis or if you wanted to make your own salsa. Oh I feel hungry just thinking about them! I try to cut one up finely using scissors. One of my faves. You can get them here.

The de arbol

A pretty traditional looking chilli right here and one we use often. I cut them up using scissors, you can decide if you want all the seeds in or not but one is plenty for a family meal. We used two in my Black Bean Tacos which fed 5 and it blew everyone's heads off! My lips went numb so be warned, they are not for the faint hearted. Because they are dried, they keep really well so you can always just use half a chilli if you didn't want everyone puffing and panting round the dinner table complaining they can't feel their tongue. You can get them here. 

The ancho mulato

These are actually twice as big as the chipotle morita and very mild. they'll just give a hint of chilli which sometimes, is all you want. You could used these to make mild enchiladas or a veggie chillie. You can get them here.

So there you have it! Plenty of options when it comes to dried chillis. A bag of each chilli will last you ages and really make a difference to meals. It's quite fun to experiment with different combinations or adding chilli to things you might not usually think of. Let me know if you've tried any of these or what meals you like to add chilli too. You can find South Devon Chilli Farm on Twitter here.