Homemade chili oil, an essential item in my home kitchen. When I was younger I loved spicy food, the spicier the better. These days my stomach can’t handle too much spicy food. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying it though, I just need to eat it with moderation. I used to love putting raw hot peppers into my meals, but now I like putting a bit of chili oil on my meals. While there is a lot of different chili oils in stores, something about homemade just hits differently. It sure helps that it’s pretty simple to make and can be stored in the fridge with no expiration date.
Chili oil, the perfect compliment
The way I like to use chili oil is on noodles, wontons or dipping sauces. You will find many chili oil recipe so it’s one of the most versatile condiments you can have. You can choose ingredients to add or remove based on your preference or keep it very simple with just chili flakes. Also you can control the spiciness by choose different type of chili flakes you use (YES! there are different type of chili flakes with different spiciness level). Depending on the type of spices, chili oil will difference in flavour. The most simple recipe is with oil, salt and chili flakes. I personally like to add a few more spices and aromatics to give it more flavour. This particular chili oil is less spicy but more flavourful.
My mom also makes her own chili oil at home. I remember that one of the biggest mistakes she always makes is heating the oil too quickly and burning all of her ingredients. When I make it, the highest heat I will use is medium low especially after the oil is heated. At certain points, I may also turn the heat off as the oil retains some of the heat. It may take some patience but I find it’s well worth the time to heat the oil slowly. When you take the time to heat the oil slowly and keep the oil temperature relatively low, it helps to draw the out flavour of the spices and chili flakes without the bitterness of burnt spices.
Pro-tip
- Don’t try to heat the oil up too quickly. Heat oil on medium and turn to low when frying or even the heat off.
- The oil retains a lot of the heat so even if you turn off the heat, it will still fry your ingredients. Do this when you are adding the sesame seeds, ground up spices and chili flakes
- If you don’t have all the spices, substitute with 1.5 tbsp of five spice powder with bay leaves. The recipe asks for two types of chili powder, if you don’t have both, try to get more the coarse chili flakes.
- Turning the heat on and off is to keep the oil temperature consistent (watch for the bubbling, if there is too much, heat is too high) without burning all of your ingredients
- Make sure to cool off the oil slightly and pour the vinegar in a circular motion around the edge of the pot to prevent splatter.
Homemade Chili Oil
Equipment
- 1 heavy bottom pan
Ingredients
- 1½ cup vegetable oil
Vegetables
- 2 green onions
- ¼ red onion
- 2 inch carrots cut into slices
- 1 stalk of cilantro
- 1 stalk celery
- 2 slices of ginger
Spice mix*
- 1½ tsp Sichuan peppercorn
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 star anise
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- ⅓ cinnamon stick
Chili
- 2½ tbsp coarse Korean chili flakes
- 2 tbsp fine Korean chili flakes
- handful dry chili (10-15) optional
- 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp Black Chinese vinegar
- salt to season optional
Instructions
- Cut all the vegetables into large pieces (green onions, onions, carrots, celery, cilantro)
- Grind up all the spices into a powder
- Crush dry chili either with blender or mortar and pestle.
- Pour the oil into a pot and turn to medium. It's important to heat up the oil slowly. Add in ginger first and fry until it's crispy. Turn the heat off, wait 30s
- Add in all the other vegetable, once the oil doesn't splatter, turn the heat to low. Fry until the vegetables are crispy. It should take 10 minutes
- Take out the vegetables. Turn the heat off.
- Add in sesame seed, wait for 30s
- Add in the spice mix. There should be some bubbling.
- Add in chili flakes, dry crushed chili. Let it simmer for 30s-1 minute. Take it off the heat, let it cool for a bit
- Add in the vinegar by pouring on the side of the pot. It should bubble a bit.
- Make sure it's fully cooled (this will also help with the infusing the oil) before storing in an air tight container or jar. This recipe is enough to fill 500ml jar.
- Store in the fridge. It can last 1 year or more. Use a clean spoon to avoid contamination and spoiling the oil
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