- I actually bought dried chile de arbol peppers for this dish, which are typically located in the Mexican aisle; you can really use whatever small dried chilies you can find at your store. I start with 4-6 dried chiles for a moderate spice level – that sounds like a lot of peppers, but I break them open and shake out the seeds before I add them to the stir fry, which greatly diminishes their heat. If you can’t find dried chilies or don’t want to buy them, try using red chile flakes instead (like the kind you’d sprinkle on pizza).