Kashmiri Chilli Powder

Kashmiri mirch is ground from a long, wrinkled red chilli prized for colour over fire. Cooks use it where they want redness without making the dish too hot for children or guests: tandoori and tikka marinades, butter chicken, rogan josh, Goan vindaloo and the red oil that floats on a good restaurant curry.

Deggi mirch is a close cousin, usually a blend of Kashmiri and other mild chillies ground for the same job, and the two can be swapped in most recipes. Compared with ordinary chilli powder, Kashmiri gives perhaps a third of the heat and far more colour. Many cooks mix it half and half with regular chilli powder to set their own balance, and use Kashmiri alone for dishes meant for the whole family.

For the brightest colour, bloom the powder in warm oil or ghee off the heat for a moment before it joins the pan, and it will release its red into the fat. Store it away from light, which dulls the colour before the flavour goes. Find it among the ground spices beside turmeric powder, or buy the chillies whole from whole dried chillies to soak and blend into a paste for vindaloo.