As of version 2.73 from 2015:
- Make sure render engine is set to cycles (BI wouldn't create the required cycles materials)
- Select the object you want to emit smoke
- From the menu Object/Quick Effects pick Quick Smoke
After that a material has been created that looks like:
In order to also emit flames it can easily be extended to:
Note that the attribute names have to be exactly as they are show 'color','density' and 'flame'.
Important settings for the Domain object (besides higher-resolution):
Important settings for the Flow Object:
Add a procedural texture and animate some properties to animate the flames.
Full tutorial: http://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/make-fire-cycles/