Chili oil is a condiment widely used in Chinese cooking. Various formulations are generally for sale where Chinese or Asian condiments are sold. But it isn’t hard to make, and creating some from scratch allows for customization. For instance, many recipes call for garlic but we don’t use any because we like to control carefully how much garlic we add to things.
For this recipe, any reasonably neutral, high-temperature oil may be used: “vegetable” oil, corn, sunflower, peanut, or for the truly fancy, grapeseed oil. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money to get special oil for this, but it does need to be an oil that can get hot without being damaged, so olive oil is not appropriate.
Be sure to use a large enough measuring cup to hold the dry ingredients and the hot oil. For one cup of oil, we use a “2 cup” measure which actually has a total capacity of 3 cups. When the hot oil hits the dry ingredients, they will most likely fizz and pop a little bit as the moisture is driven out of them by the hot oil.
Allow the oil to cool completely around the spices, and then put it in a tightly-sealed jar for storage at room temperature. Whether to remove any or all of the solids is a personal choice; I prefer to let the oil sit on them and continue to steep.
Makes enough roughly 1.5 cups.
Equipment:
• small saucepan
• deep-fry or candy thermometer
• medium to large heatproof measuring cup or mixing bowl (metal is not recommended)
• spice grinder (if starting with all whole spices)
• jar with lid for storing finished oil
Ingredients:
1 cup cooking oil neutral with high smoke point
1/4 cup chili flakes
3 Tbsp sesame seed
2 tsp five-spice powder or 5-7 seeds of anise; ground
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns ground
1/2 tsp coriander seed ground
1/2 tsp cumin seed ground
1/2 tsp dried ginger ground; optional
1/2-2 tsp granulated garlic optional
1 ea cinnamon stick fragment
1-2 ea star anise whole
1-2 ea bay leaf whole
Procedure:
1. If using whole dried red chili peppers, remove the stems, seeds and pith.
2. Place the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat to warm up to 375°F.
3. Place all the other ingredients into the heatproof measuring cup. Make sure to place the vessel on a heatproof surface.
4. Once the oil has reached the proper temperature, pour it carefully over the spices.
5. Allow the oil to sit until it cools completely.
6. Store the oil in a sealed container at room temperature. It’s best to let the oil sit for a couple of weeks after preparing it, to allow the flavor to develop.
Music: