Description
Homemade chili oil with sediment was a blast testing and tasting! You can make this as mild or spicy as you like.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (toasted)
- 2 cups Canola oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic (finely diced - about 3 cloves)
- 7 slices of ginger
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
- 1 teaspoon ground szechuan/sichuan peppercorn
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (more if you want it spicier)
- 1 whole star anise
- 5 cloves
- 1 large bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon gochujang (chili paste)
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT. YOU NEED A HEAT-PROOF BOWL FOR THIS. (see note# 1)
Instructions
- Put sesame seeds in a small pan and toast on the stovetop on low heat for about 5 minutes until they are golden in color. You’ll want to stir them so they don’t burn. I usually do other prep while they’re toasting, but don’t forget about them or they will burn.
- Pour the canola into a pot and heat on low-to-medium heat.
- While the oil is heating, do your other prep. Finely dice the garlic and set aside.
- Thinly slice the ginger and set aside.
- Finely dice the onion.
- In a HEAT-PROOF bowl, add the following ingredients: gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), ground Sichuan peppercorn, sugar, salt, Kashmiri red chili powder, red pepper flakes, star anise, cloves, bay leaf, garlic, gochujang (Korean chili paste), toasted sesame seeds, soy sauce.
- The oil should be hot by now so add the diced onion to the oil and let them fry for a few minutes. They should be sizzling right away after you put them in the oil. After 3-4 minutes, add the ginger slices. Let it fry another 4-5 minutes until the onions turn golden brown in color.
- Once the onions are golden brown, it’s time to add the hot oil mixture to the HEAT-PROOF bowl with the other ingredients. Pour the hot oil mixture, carefully, into the HEAT-PROOF bowl. The whole bowl will sizzle and it’s pretty cool, actually. I gently started to whisk the ingredients together. The sizzling will stop within a minute or so. I always whisk thoroughly to make sure that glob of gochujang gets dissolved. That’s it. I usually let it sit out in the bowl overnight (covered). Then it’s ready for use! Transfer to a glass mason jar – an old spaghetti jar will do too or any glass jar you may have on hand. I like to let it sit overnight before using.
- I usually pull out the star anise, ginger slices and bay leaf the next day. Sometimes I can't find the cloves because they are so small. I find them later when they end up in my mouth!
Notes
- If you don’t have a heat-proof bowl just use another pot to put your dry ingredients in. Whatever you use, it needs to be able to withstand adding the sizzling, bubbling VERY HOT canola oil too. I mention the HEAT-PROOF bowl so many times because certain glass bowls are not heat-proof and the bowl with crack or explode when the hot oil is poured into it. Please keep this in mind.
- I’ve ordered spices on amazon which is good to have as an option. However, if you can find things at local Asian markets you will get a better price.