Lal mirch
Red chilli, whole or ground, the main source of heat in Indian cooking since the sixteenth century.
Also: red chilli, mirch powder, mirchi, dried red chilli
Lal mirch means red chilli, the dried ripe fruit of Capsicum annuum and related species. Chillies came from the Americas and reached India with the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, soon replacing long pepper as the main source of heat. Indian cooks now use dozens of types, from the mild, deep-red Kashmiri to the fierce Guntur and the very hot Bhut Jolokia. Whole dried chillies are fried in tadka, and powder goes into masalas and curries. The heat comes from capsaicin, concentrated in the white pith around the seeds, so removing pith cools a dish more than removing seeds. Colour and heat are separate qualities, graded separately in trade.