When a recipe calles for chili powder do they mean ground chili peppers or the chili spice blend?!
Answers: I do a lot of cooking and this question has perplexed me. When a recipe calls for chili powder how do I know if the recipe is calling for chili powder made from ground chili peppers or is it a chili powder made with chili, cumin, oregano...etc?
Usually when I see "chili powder" in a recipe, I take it to mean a spice blend.
Chile poweder would imply grounded chile peppers.
Chili powder is a spice. You can buy it at the grocery store. It is can make your chili really hot if you use too much.
It depends on the recipe. I don't no what your recipe says exactly(what are all the other ingredients,etc...),but most likely,the latter(chili spice blend).
Recipe calls for - and people purchase - prepackaged chili powder (usually a blend of ground chili peppers) for convenience.
BUT you can certainly improve on that by making your own spice blend in your home grinder as hot or not, and flavorable as you like. I add different peppers, cumin (black and regular), cinnamon (!), cloves, black cardamom and onion seed (kalonji) to make my blend for my prize winning chilis and curries. Ethnic stores (esp. Indian for variety of spices) are excellent places to find new flavors to add to your cooking.
Happy Holiday Cooking!!!
most recipes I know call for the chili powder which can be found in the spice section of your local grocery store. I would think that if it was calling for ground chili peppers that it would specifically state that.
My husband uses chili powder in his meatloaf and especially in his chili beans and it is just the right kick to everything.