Chilli Pepper Recipes

There's no need to worry about handling fresh chillies, but it's important to take sensible precautions. Here’s what you need to do to prepare them for nearly every sort of chilli dish you could imagine.

1. Handle raw chillis by hand, but wear rubber gloves when dealing with particularly red hot chilli peppers and other strong varieties.
2. Cut the top off each chilli you are preparing and discard the stalk.
3. To reduce the strength of the chilli, cut it in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds and fleshy membrane onto a chopping board with a spoon.
4. Avoid touching the seeds — simply scrape them straight into the bin.
5. Whether you have deseeded the chilli or not, cut it into sections of about 2mm in width, from top to bottom.
6. Next, chop these sections into smaller ones, aiming for pieces about 2mm square.
7. Add half the chilli pieces to your pot and taste, adding more if necessary. (This is essential since all chillies vary in their flavour intensity).

Note: Wash hands thoroughly after handling chillies of any strength. Do not touch other food or sensitive body parts, such as your eyes, before your hands are fully clean.

There are a few different methods for drying chillies for later use. Drying them is a good preservative method. Here’s what you need to do.

Method one: hanging: If you have several chillies you’d like to dry, then tie them up in a bunch by their stalks. You can then suspend them somewhere in the kitchen where they won’t get too exposed to moisture, like near a sunny window. Leave them until they’ve gone dark and have a hardened outer appearance.

Method two: baking: A quick method of drying chillies involves baking them. Prepare them by cutting them in half, lengthways. Remove the seeds if you want at this point. Now, place them face up on a dry roasting tin and bake them on low heat for 20 minutes. You can put them in a food blender once they’ve dried to turn them into flakes.

Method three: slow drying: If neither of the above techniques appeals to you, place the chillies individually onto a tray. Spread them out to ensure they’re not touching one another. Then, simply put them in a darkened room or larder until they dry. The location must be completely moisture-free for this method to be effective.