Chili oil is one of the best condiments you can have in your pantry. It’s definitely in every Asian household’s, not just because of its instant spicy kick, but because it’s full of umami and can actually elevate almost any dish with a teaspoon.
This recipe is a mix of the traditional Sichuan and Chiu Chow chili oil recipes and we love it because it has a great mix of slight mala flavor but bumped up with amazing garlicky & fresher notes. It’s so easy to make, and while there’s a recipe below, you can 100% experiment with this by switching out your chilies, aromatics, fresh ingredients. Just never ever forget to add those pinches of MSG to finish it off. Seriously, don’t you dare skip this step.
Ingredients:
-25 pieces of Arbol chiles
-Szechuan Peppercorn(10g)
-Fennel Seed (5g)
-Star Anise (3 pieces)
-Garlic (whole bulb)
-Shallots (4 pieces)
-Sweet Peppers (10 pieces)
-Neutral Tasting (Canola/Peanut, 3/4 of a small glass jar)
-Soy Sauce (2 tablespoon)
-Salt (3 grams)
-MSG (3 pinch)
Step by Step:
1. Toast and crush the whole chilies.
-We’re using Arbol because it’s the closest thing we can use to substitute Asian chili flakes. If you can buy crushed ones in Asian grocery stores, that’d be ideal.
-You toast the chilies to release its oils and flavor. Pan frying it without oil or putting in the oven under broil for a few minutes will work. Don’t burn it, you wanna see very light charring.
2. Mix and toast the aromatics
-Similar to the chilies, you want to release flavors from your aromatics to maximize flavor in your chili oil. Do not skip this step.
3. Cut your fresh ingredients into small pieces.
-No specific shapes but don’t mince them, you still want to be able to bite into chunky pieces of the garlic and shallots.
4. Toast(Char) and blend your fresh sweet peppers
-Again, the toasting or charring is essential to release flavors so don’t skip it.
-You can definitely use other varieties of chilies, but these sweet peppers we’ve found work best because they’re fairly neutral in flavor and contribute hints of sweetness to the chili oil. They’re also the most available sweet peppers you can find anywhere in the US.
5. Fry the chili oil (do this sequence properly to avoid burnt flavors)
– Turn on your stove at medium heat
– Pour in a 1/3 of your neutral tasting oil into the pot
– Flick some water droplets into it, if those start popping you know you have a hot pot
– Pour in your aromatic mix and let it fry for 7 min.
– Pour in your garlic and shallots, and let it fry for 7 min.
– Pour 1/3 of your neutral tasting oil into the pot
– Pour in your crushed chilies (7 min)
– Pour the last 1/3 of your neutral tasting oil into the pot
– Fry the whole mixture for another 7min (make sure the garlic does not turn black)
6. Finish your chili oil with soy sauce, salt to taste, and MSG.
– Do not store your chili oil until you’re happy with the saltiness level or else you’ll end up with rich and spicy but bland oil. Be warned!
7. Store your chili oil
– Pour your chili oil into a sterile container that can hold high temp (ideally a glass jar). You don’t want to risk Botulism so make sure that container is sterile.
– Let the chili oil cool down then shut the lid tight, flip the jar on its head once (just cause it looks cool), and put it in your fridge overnight before using. Trust us on this. It’s gonna taste different as flavors are further extracted within this time.
– You should be able to keep this in your fridge for a while but trust your gut. If something feels/tastes funky, it’s time to make another batch.
Hope you’re able to give this a try! Let us know what you think in the comments below and also if there are other dishes you want to learn about that uses MSG. Till next time! See ya!