Chili Oil
Over the years, chili has become such a foundational ingredient for many of my recipes. The kick of heat is a tasty reminder that eating is a multi-sensory experience that should be delighted in, in all its dimensions.
As my love for food and flavor evolves, so does my curiosity to understand store-bought pantry staples and replace them with healthy alternatives. Granted that most of my time spent binge watching Masterchef Australia is partly responsible for my recent obsession to create everything from scratch but living alone has made me more creative with produce.
Has anyone else realized that everything seems to go bad in 1 business day while living by yourself? No one ever prepares you for how fast you have to chow down bananas!
This time however, I had a bunch of chili and figured it would be the perfect opportunity to share this recipe with you. I should warn you though, this kitchen run was wrapped in coughs and snorty sneezes but quite frankly, if you can’t handle the heat get out the kitchen!
You’ll need
- about 200g of fresh bird’s eye chili
- a handful of dried bird’s eye chili
- tablespoon Chinese Sichuan peppercorn
- teaspoon of chili flakes
- garlic clove (to infuse the flavor – optional)
- 500ml of vegetable oil or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of salt
Directions
- Place the oil, live chilies, dried chilies, garlic, and aromatics into a pot
- Bring the oil to a boil in low heat making sure that you don’t cook the chilies until you see small bubbles forming
- Leave to cool overnight and continue infusing
- remove the garlic and blitz the rest of the mixture in a blender
- place in airtight sterilized container in the refrigerator for up to 4 months
