Cili boh substitutes

The real thing, which takes five minutes of work and half an hour of waiting.

Best for

sambal tumis, mee goreng, nasi goreng, curries, sambal belacan

Snip the stems off, shake out as many seeds as you want less heat, cover with boiling water and leave thirty minutes until soft and pliable, then blend with a splash of the soaking water into a thick smooth paste. Use dried Kashmiri or Indian long chillies if you can, or guajillo or New Mexico. This is not a compromise, it is the recipe, and a batch keeps a fortnight in the fridge.

Mexican dried chillies soaked and blended exactly the same way, sold in every large supermarket.

Best for

sambal tumis, mee goreng, curries, marinades

The best route outside Asia, because these chillies are in the same mild, sweet, deep-red category and blend to the same consistency. The difference is a slightly raisiny, dried-fruit sweetness where Malaysian dried chillies are a touch more bitter and earthy, so a sambal comes out marginally sweeter and rounder. If it tastes too fruity, a squeeze of tamarind during the fry corrects it.

The Indian-grocery shortcut, which nails the colour and the mildness.

Best for

curries, sambal tumis, rice dishes, when you have no dried whole chillies

Kashmiri chilli is bred for brilliant red colour and low heat, which is exactly what cili boh contributes, so this is a better match than it sounds. The paste is thinner and slightly dusty compared with blended whole chillies, and it will not break oil quite as convincingly, so fry it a few minutes longer and add the teaspoon of oil while mixing to help it come together.

Coarse Korean sun-dried chilli flakes, which are unusually close in heat level and colour.

Best for

sambal tumis, stir-fried noodles, fried rice, curries

Genuinely one of the better swaps, because gochugaru is mild, fruity and vividly red rather than fiery, which is the whole character of cili boh. Let the flakes sit in warm water for fifteen minutes and then blend if you want it smooth. Expect a faint smoky sweetness and a slightly coarser texture, so the finished sambal looks a little more speckled and tastes a shade sweeter.

The swap people reach for first, and the one most likely to wreck the dish if used cup for cup.

Best for

emergencies, when you only need a small amount of cili boh

This is the important note on the page. Sambal oelek is made from fresh chillies with salt and vinegar, so it is far hotter, sharper and more sour, and a sambal tumis made with a cup of it in place of a cup of cili boh is close to inedible. Use a quarter of the amount for heat and make up the missing volume with tomato paste or roasted red pepper for the body and colour, then skip the recipe's salt and vinegar.

A build-your-own blend when the mild dried chillies alone taste flat to you.

Best for

curries, meat sambals, braises

Anchos give body, sweetness and dark red colour while a single arbol adds the small kick that cili boh has at the back. The result is noticeably darker and more raisiny than Malaysian cili boh, so the sambal reads brick-brown rather than bright red, and the flavour leans faintly smoky. Good in a beef rendang or a heavy curry, less right in a bright mee goreng.