# Almonds and dried chilies



## scubadoo97 (Apr 22, 2009)

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


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## fire it up (Apr 22, 2009)

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!


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## rivet (Apr 22, 2009)

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


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## scubadoo97 (Apr 22, 2009)

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. #%*#......


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## scubadoo97 (Apr 25, 2009)

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.


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## fire it up (Apr 25, 2009)

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.


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