Almonds and dried chilies

[scubadoo97]

I picked up a few bags of raw almonds at a good price from Aldi as well as some dried chilies.

I used a brine of 2 cups of water : 1/2 cup of salt to soak the almonds in and got the MES heated.

I like to make my own chili powder and had ancho, pasilla and guajilla peppers to work with. I went through the normal method of removing the seeds and toasting the peppers but before grinding I tossed them in the smoker with a good dose of hickory. I let them smoke for about 20 min while I let the smoker heat up to do the almonds. I was not looking for an intense smoke flavor but just a hint of smoke in this chili powder.

The almonds are still smoking but the chilies have been ground and smell wonderful. Not like chipotles but just a subtle smell of smoke

 

[fire it up]

Nice blend of peppers, sounds great!
I can't wait to try smoking and drying some peppers.
Let us know how the almonds turned out, and pics would be great!

 

[rivet]

'Zactly! ^^^^^^^^^

 

[scubadoo97]

No photos, sorry. Half the almonds came out well. I had two trays and the one on the bottom got too much heat and burned. #%*#......

 

[scubadoo97]

Just used the ground chili powder on a flank steak tonight. The smoked aroma was significantly more noticable than after I first ground up the chilies. Like the almonds, they get better with time.

If you make your own chili powder give it a little smoke. Wonderful stuff.

 

[fire it up]

Definitely doing that this summer scuba.
Nice to know the smoke is more prevalent as it matures.
Can't wait to try it done with some bhut jolokias.