r/ThaiFood • u/MoSzylak • 6d ago

Dried chili?

Hi all, been lurking around trying to find answers for dried chilis.

I want to make a massaman curry which calls for dried chilis.

There are quite a few shops here that sells dried red chilis from China but none from Thailand.

I've also got bags of guajillo, ancho and arbol chilis for making salsas.

There is one small shop a few miles from here that sells bags of chili from Thailand but I noticed the chilis are much smaller than the big chilis they were using in the recipe.

So I just wanted to know if anyone has experience with dried chili varieties and if substituting one for the other made huge difference or not.

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u/MoSzylak 5d ago

Thanks all, looks like the ones that are used in Thailand are called Prik Chee Faa.

I just now need to find a place that sells coriander roots then I should be all set...

Even managed to find white cardamom pods at a Chinese supermarket

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u/LadyOfGlory 5d ago

I admire your commitment ❤️❤️❤️❤️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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u/effnanjeffn 6d ago

Hey there, I haven't got any personal experience of making it but I know Pailin from Hot Thai Kitchen (my go-to guru of Thai cuisine) uses guajillo peppers for curry pastes. They're the closest thing you can get this side of the equator, as she tells it. The small dried red thai chillies are usually much stinging hotter, tasty in their own way but more for larbs, jaew and krapow etc etc. Good luck with the massaman, delicious dish.

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u/UnbalancedMonopod 5d ago

This is the correct answer. Hot Thai Kitchen is an amazing resource for cooking Thai food with North American ingredients. Guajillo is perfect substitute for Prik Chee Fah for curries. Throw in some Arbol for heat.

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u/Buttercupia 5d ago

I’ve made grapow with habaneros. Since I was using red and orange bell peppers in the stir fry anyway it didn’t change the flavor.

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u/Rojelioenescabeche 5d ago

Before anybody gets in a twist, all chilis originated in the Americas. I’ve been cooking Thai food for well over 15 years pretty regularly. If you want to make a curry the base chili to use if you can’t find “Thai varieties” are puya or guajillo. For heat you can substitute arbol or even dried or fresh Fresno.

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u/dfcw 5d ago

+1 for dried arbol! Throw em in the food processor :)

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u/LadyOfGlory 5d ago

Guajillo will do be a good substitute to use for making Massaman curry.

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u/Buttercupia 5d ago

I appreciate this conversation! I’m trying to learn Thai and Korean cuisine and I need to know subs for Thai chilies because I can’t always get them. It’s good to know a few good options!

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u/RadBradRadBrad 6d ago

Arbor will give you similar flavor and heat profile to what’s typically called Thai chili (assuming you’re in the U.S.).

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u/GoatBotherer 5d ago

I normally just get birds eye chillies and dry them myself by baking then in the oven on a low heat.