Description
A delicious Sichuan chili oil recipe taught to me by Sichuan Chef Liu when I lived in Chengdu Sichuan, China. This is my all-time favorite condiment and spicy chili oil — and it couldn’t be easier to make.
Ingredients
- 2 cups caiziyou oil (roasted rapeseed oil) (425g) (sub peanut, avocado, grapeseed, or canola oil)
- 3 1/2 ounces whole “Facing Heaven” dried chilis (100g) (sub 1 cup Sichuan chili flakes)
- 2 tablespoons freshly toasted sesame seeds (16g)
- 1 knob of fresh ginger (1 ounce), sliced (30g)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 scallions, roughly chopped (40g)
- 1 shallot, sliced (15g) (sub white or yellow onion)
- 2 Chinese black cardamom berry (tsao ko OR cao guo)
- 3 Chinese small white cardamom berries (Bai Dou Kou)
- 3 whole star anise (bajiao) (1.5g)
- 2-inch piece of Chinese cinnamon (cassia bark) (2g)
- 8 red Sichuan flower peppers (huajiao) (3g) (or up to 1 tablespoon or more for more numbing mala quality)
- 8 whole white peppercorns
- 2 pieces of shannai/shajiang (dried sand ginger)
Instructions
- Toast the sesame seeds. Add sesame seeds to a skillet and toast them until golden brown over medium heat. Remove them to a large stainless steel and set aside.
- Wash the chili peppers & toast them. Skip to step #4 if using sichuan chili powder or sichuan chili flakes instead of whole dried chilis. Wash the chili peppers in a bowl of water to remove any residue, strain them, and add them to a wok (or large sauté pan) set over medium heat. Dry fry the chilis moving them around constantly to remove the water and toast them until fragrant and slightly colored on the outside (about 6 to 7 minutes). Remove them to the bowl of a food processor. *Alternatively, you can crush the chilis using a mortar and pestle.
- Crush the chilis. Pulse the chilis to chop them until they are just about the size of crushed red chili flakes. Add them to the stainless steel bowl with sesame seeds and stir to combine. *Alternatively, you may add the sesame seeds at the end (I’ve done both with no discernable difference in flavor).
- Heat the caiziyou oil 455°F/235°C. Skip this step if using peanut or other high smoke point oil. Using a thermometer, heat the roasted rapeseed oil just until smoking to remove the raw flavor and immediately turn off the heat. The temperature should not exceed 464°F/220°C.
- Infuse the oil with aromatics. When the oil has cooled by about a 1/3 (to 305°F/152°C), add all of the aromatics to the oil and cook over medium-low heat until the scallions turn golden brown (about 40 minutes). Keep an eye on the oil temperature to maintain a bubbling sizzle throughout. The oil should not be so hot that it splatters or smokes heavily. For an even tastier oil, you can continue cooking it for up to 1 hour if you have time). Strain the aromatics from the oil and reserve them for making a homemade Sichuan broth or discard.
- Add the oil to the chilis & sesame seeds. Heat the oil back up to 365°F/185°C and add 1/3 of the oil to the chili mixture and stir to combine (it will be bubbling vigorously). Next, add another 1/3 of the oil and stir to combine. Add the last of the oil to the chili mixture and stir to combine. Allow the chili oil to cool slightly and add it to a heatproof glass jar, seal, and allow it to infuse for 24 hours before using (if you can wait that long), Enjoy!
Notes
For a less textured or crunchy chili oil, you may increase the amount of oil to a full 2 1/2 to 3 cups (525-600g) which will end up having a more pure red chili oil to chili flake ratio.
The first addition of hot oil being added to the chili mixture is where the smoky toasty fragrance of the chili oil comes from. The second addition of the oil at a lower temperature helps pull out the red color. And the last addition of the oil at the lowest temperature is meant to maintain the spiciness of the chilis.
Sichuan Chili Oil Best Tips
Use Caiziyou oil (roasted rapeseed oil) for the best flavor. This typical oil used in Sichuanese cuisine is incredibly fragrant. My entire apartment building would be filled with the warm roasted scent of this oil at least twice a day when neighbors were cooking lunch or dinner. It’s unlike any oil we have in the US or Europe.
Best Caiziyou oil Substitutes: It’s hard to describe what caiziyou oil (Sichuan rapeseed oil) smells like when it’s being cooked, but the closest thing I can come up with is that it smells similar (but better) to how roasting peanuts smell. If you can’t find roasted rapeseed oil, substitute peanut oil, or another neutral oil with a high smoke point. Just know the chili oil will be missing a dimension of flavor, but it’ll still be delicious.
Caiziyou oil should be heated to just around 464°F/240°C to its smoking point before infusing it. Unlike canola oil, peanut oil, avocado oil, or grapeseed oil (etc,), caiziyou oil has a raw aroma that needs to be cooked out of it before infusing it with the aromatics and adding it to the dried chilis or chili powder. This is why the oil is first heated in the wok until it smokes (around (464°F/240°C) and then allowed to cool slightly before adding the aromatics to infuse the oil. If you’re using an oil other than caiziyou, you can skip this step.
Fry the aromatics on medium-low until golden brown but not burned. The aromatics should be sizzling steadily as they cook, but there shouldn’t be any splattering or a lot of black smoke coming up from the oil as it infuses. By maintaining just the right frying temperature, you can infuse the oil for a longer period before the aromatics are browned and need to be removed.
Be careful when dry roasting (or toasting) whole chilis so they don’t burn. Make sure your wok or skillet is not turned up so high that the chilis burn on the outside before getting toasted and all of the water evaporates from when you cleaned them. Adjust the temperature as needed to avoid this. Inevitably, you will have a few chili seeds that come loose from inside the whole chilis and are black from being burned (see photo below). Remove them before adding the whole chilis to the food processor to chop. This will keep your chili oil from being bitter.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Condiments + Sauces + Dips
- Method: Deep Fried
- Cuisine: Chinese (Sichuan)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
