Ground Dried Chili Pepper - Prig bpon พริกป่น

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Visit any Thai noodle shops; one of the condiments on your table is ground chili pepper. The other standard condiments are fresh chili pepper pickled in vinegar, sugar and fish sauce. Ground dried chili pepper is a very versatile part of Thai cooking and you will see it in most salad dishes, like laab.

Your homemade ground chili will have a wonderful toasted aroma that can be lost in store-bought ones.

10 Servings, Prep Time: 7 Minutes, Total Time: 7 Minutes

10-15 Dried whole chilis

Tips and Techniques

The desired color is bright red or orange. The trick to get this color is to toast the peppers without burning them. If you go over the edge, burnt pepper will make the ground pepper dark.
Use dried Thai chili peppers for maximum heat.

Method

Toast the dried whole chili peppers with stem on in a hot pan. A cast iron pan is best for this job because it gives even heating. Use medium heat. Keep stirring to get all sides toasted evenly. When your peppers start to fragrant and turn dark, they are ready. Take extra care not to breath in deeply the hot aroma, it will burn your lungs!

Remove from heat and let them cool before grinding. When cooled, they are crunchy and easy to grind. Remove the stems and grind them in a mortar. Pound the chili peppers until fine. Once in a while, drag the pestle in a circular motion or back and forth to break up clumps. This should make about 2 tablespoons.

Keep the ground chili pepper in a jar in the pantry for up to a year. After a year, it tends to lose it potency.