We love putting Sichuan chili oil on almost everything like dumplings, wontons, noodles, and rice. We also love making dishes like mapo tofu and stir fry with it. It brings out an umami flavor of your foods! Making chili oil seems like a lot of work but it can be quick & easy. Our simple recipe is probably the most basic of all sichuan chili oil. It is the "must" ingredients to create this. If you don't have a lot of extra ingredients at home, this is perfect for you! Once you learn to make this basic, you can eventually add more aromatics (like garlic, scallions, shallots, onions, peanuts...etc) to it for tons of flavors.
Ingredients
5 Star Anise
1 Cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon Sichuan Peppercorn (this gives the numbing taste)
2 Bay leaves
1 cup Sichuan chili flakes
2 cups neutral tasting oil (Vegetable, Canola, Peanut, Grapeseed oil)
1 slice Ginger
2 Tbsp Sesame seeds
Instructions
Toast star anise, cinnamon stick, sichuan peppercorn, and ginger on medium to low heat until fragrant.
Pour in oil, add bay leaves, and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes to infuse the oil. Stir often to prevent burning. Don't allow the oil to smoke, otherwise it will burn.
Check temperature of the oil. Once the temp reaches 300 degrees, it's done.
Prepare a heatproof bowl with 1 cup of sichuan chili flakes. Pour hot infused oil through a strainer onto the chili flakes. You will see vigorous bubbling! Let the chili oil cool before transferring to a mason jar.
Notes
Traditional chili oil uses neutral oil because it doesn't have a strong taste like olive oil or avocado oil. By using neutral oil, you can fully taste the chili fakes & aromatics. We've never tried it with olive oil but we have used avocado oil because it has a more subtle taste. It tasted great too.
This chili oil recipe is mild. It's not meant to be spicy but fragrant enough to add umami to food. You can add more Sichuan peppercorn for more numbing taste.
Must use Sichuan chili flakes, otherwise it will not taste traditional.
If you make this recipe, we'd love to see it! Tag us at @NY.Foodie on your stories & posts.