The most common type of chili used within curries are the fresh kind, either green or red. Green chillies are long and slim, and the most fresh that can be bought. They have a very strong, powerful flavour and can be very spicy depending on the variety. They are found in many shops, from packets within supermarkets or loose batches in local shops. This type of chili are often sliced and mixed into curries, or left whole with a slit for soup type dishes.
Red chillies are noticeably larger and fatter than green chillies, and often used in different cuisines of cooking such as Chinese and Thai food. These chillies still have a subtle heat, but are much milder than green chillies, and often used as decoration on top of dishes or within salads.
Dried chillies are red in colour and come in two types. There are ones which have the same look as the green chillies and others are very small, around a centimetre long, but are twice as potent and spicy. These are often fried in oil before the base sauce is made for a curry. They are fried with cumin and mustard seeds and release heat within the dish, making the actual oil it had been fried in very spicy.
The last form of chili that is used within Indian cooking is chilli powder. This, though it may seem like it may be less spicy due to its lack of freshness, is actually the most potent and spicy from most of the chillies listed above. Its concentrated flavour as the ability to make some dishes truly spicy. It is often used by takeaway shops in excessive use, making dishes lose their layers of deep flavour, and more based upon how much chilli there is.
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