I absolutely love the rich red color of this curry. The only way you can get this bright red is using dried chilies. Chili powder can be substituted, but it tends to just add heat without the smoky flavor of dried chilies. I didn’t have any Kashmiri chilies on hand (I had just run out the week before!), so I used 7 dried California chilies – usually reserved for weekend Chili, but I really didn’t want to use chili powder. You can roast the dried chilies beforehand if you want to enhance that smoky flavor, but allow it to cool completely before grinding or else if will create a hot powder that will BURN when you finish grinding. Read the rest of this entry →