This is the secret formula for the ultimate
Chinese Chili Sauce!
It's the perfect blend of zing and spice for your taste buds.
To start, let’s see how a Chinese chef prepares the garlic.
First, we'll smash the garlic..
Cut off the end first.
Cut away the end.
We’ll trim off the ends of the cloves.
Discard it.
Next,
Crush it, go down with your hand.
You can put some strength into it, it's fine.
Then we’ll smash the garlic with our cleaver.
After smashing the garlic, we'll mince it.
Then gather the garlic together and mince.
All right, that's enough.
Just over an oz of garlic.
Some people use a blender to blend it.
That's fine!
But I like to chop it by hand.
It does come out a little differently.
The texture's a bit different.
Mince the chili peppers.
I don't use a blender for this.
Cut the chili peppers up first.
We have 1/2 lb of chili peppers here.
I'm not planning to use it all up, though.
5-6 oz is enough.
My dad chose peppers more appropriate
for a milder Cantonese palate.
These are Fresno peppers,
which clock in at 2,500-10,000 Scoville Heat Units
on the Scoville scale.
Invented by Wilbur Scoville in 1912,
the Scoville scale measures the spiciness of chili peppers
based on the concentration of capsaicinoids.
These are chemical irritants for mammals,
producing a burning sensation
on any tissue it comes into contact with.
As we mentioned, you can customize this sauce however you like.
If you’re a spice fiend,
the zi tin ziu, or facing heaven pepper
he'll add later is hotter
at around 10-50,000 Scoville Heat Units.
For all you daredevils out there,
here are some suggestions that are higher on the scale.
Be sure to select your chilis not just for the heat levels,
but for their flavor profiles.
To make it less spicy,
you can add something like a sweet pepper,
and add ground bean sauce.
That'll make it less spicy.
Then, open them up.
After cutting off the stems,
we’ll cut them open lengthwise.
Pull up the core.
Slice them into strips first.
Then chop them into thin strips.
After slicing them into strips,
turn them to the side and mince them.
Just chop it up like this.
We’ll then turn them 90 degrees and dice.
To be safe, you could choose to wear gloves for this step
so the spiciness doesn’t stay on your hands.
If you don’t,
be careful to not touch your face, or specifically your eyes,
before thoroughly washing your hands with soap.
Can you use a blender for this?
You could use a blender.
Just don't overdo it.
Definitely stop before it starts becoming liquidy.
See if it's spicy enough.
It's okay, it's pretty spicy.
This is spicy enough for our family.
If you want to make it spicier, add two Chao Tian chilies.
Two of these will make it very spicy.
We’ll dice up two of these
zi tin ziu (facing heaven peppers) to add some more spice.
Okay.
Now we’ll set the diced chilis aside in a plate or bowl.
This will make a large amount.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
to guide you as you make the recipe at home.
With our ingredients chopped,
we’re ready to break out the wok for the next step.
The ingredients are this simple!
After they're ready,
grab the wok and start cooking.
Heat on.
Turn to the highest heat.
Heat the wok up.
We’ll turn the stove to high until the wok is hot.
The wok is hot now.
Turn the heat down.
Use 3 tbsp of oil.
Now, we’ll add our oil.
Heat up the oil, but not too much.
How hot is it?
About 250° F (121° C).
Test the temperature with a piece of chili.
There's some tiny bubbles.
We spent too much time talking, so now the oil's too hot.
We'll add some cold oil to cool it down.
If the oil is too hot,
we can add some oil to bring down the temperature.
Can you make this with animal fats?
Don't use lard for this.
It solidifies if you refrigerate it.
This doesn't.
But you can use other oils?
Peanut oil, any oil will work.
You have to use a plain cooking oil.
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The oil is about 250° F (121° C).
Garlic first.
Slowly fry them.
We’ll add in the minced garlic first
and continuously move it around with our spatula.
If the oil is too hot, the garlic will instantly burn.
It's doing well, right?
Fry up that garlic flavor.
Now, we'll add the chili peppers too.
When the garlic is fragrant, we’ll add the chilis too.
Once the chilies are in, turn the heat down.
Slowly cook it on medium.
Flip it carefully.
This way, the oil and frying will bring out chili oil.
The true flavor of the chili peppers.
The oil is turning red.
After cooking on medium heat for about a minute,
we’ll turn the heat to low.
Low heat.
What’s the difference between chili sauce and chili oil?
In a previous video, we covered chili oil
or laat ziu yau in Cantonese, which is mostly oil
infused with flavor from dried ingredients and aromatics.
Chili sauce, or laat ziu zoeng in Cantonese,
is its chunky cousin
that contains fresh chilis, vinegar, and less oil.
If you’re craving that satisfying noodle slurp
in dishes like chow mein or lo mein,
you can’t go wrong with our decadent chili sauce.
Don't rush this!
Don't use high heat to fry this.
It will burn right away.
It won't work.
How can you tell when it's done?
It'll cook quickly as you fry it.
What you're waiting for
is for the oil to fry the garlic and chili flavors out.
You'll be able to smell it.
The oil is turning red
because of the chili peppers.
We'll keep stirring the chilis around for about 2 minutes.
I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our
wonderful Patreon supporters for helping bring this video to life.
If you enjoy our videos and are interested in supporting us directly,
head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more!
After about 2 minutes of
cooking on low and stirring frequently,
it’s time to season the sauce.
Now, we're adding 1 tsp of vinegar.
It enhances the flavor
and helps the chili sauce keep for longer.
Add 1 tsp of sugar.
1 tsp of salt for flavor.
Then we’ll mix it all together well.
This is nearly ready.
This is ground bean sauce.
1 tbsp.
This will make it taste even better.
We’ll mix in the ground bean sauce
to add a deeper umami flavor.
If you skip it, the sauce will be one-dimensionally spicy.
This will have the fragrance of ground bean sauce.
Is the chili sauce you usually make different from this?
It's different, I use a lot more ground bean sauce.
It's darker.
It's darker and it has less chilies.
It's less spicy.
Is it usually a 1:1 ratio?
My usual chili sauce has more.
Over half of it is ground bean sauce.
If someone's allergic to soy,
what else are some alternatives?
Then they can just skip it.
You can omit the ground bean sauce.
But I like the flavor of chili sauce with ground bean sauce in it.
After another 40-50 seconds
of cooking with the ground bean sauce,
we’re ready for our finishing touch.
Okay, it's done cooking now.
We're going to add some sesame oil.
1 tsp of sesame oil.
Turn the heat off.
"What dishes would you use this with?"
As a dipping sauce, or for cooking.
Dip your potstickers in it, or add it to other dishes.
What kinds of dishes would you use this to cook?
Mapo Tofu uses this chili sauce.
You'd use this to cook Hot and Sour Soup.
Top your rice and noodle dishes with it.
Your sister adds so much to her pho
that the whole soup turns red!
Did you eat this growing up?
When I was young, we soaked entire chili peppers in soy sauce.
When we were young,
we didn't have a lot to eat.
Chilies soaked in soy sauce could be a side dish.
That's what people did.
Or soaked in vinegar.
When you bite into those chilies, they're crisp and crunchy.
And we'd just mix that with rice.
We'd just eat that.
Incredible!
Not too spicy.
Here, give it a taste.
You can put this on anything.
A bit spicy.
It tastes great!
Now we’ll pour it into a bowl
and my dad will explain how he stores it.
Now, when it's cooled down, store it in a jar.
When there's a layer of oil on top that covers the rest of the sauce,
it'll keep for longer.
That's why I cooked it with more oil today.
You might see a lot of oil now,
but after one night,
the sauce will soak up the oil and you won't see it.
You can safely keep it in the fridge
for a year.
Make sure you scoop into it with a dry spoon.
Cheers!
I'm excited!
The red color is gorgeous.
Very vibrant.
Oh, that's good!
It's good!
Oh, very spicy!
So fresh.
The jarred chili sauces you buy won't be this smooth.
They cook it from dried chili peppers
so it can't be smooth like this.
Our Chinese Chili Sauce is complete!
I hope everyone enjoys it!
Maya!
Hi!
Wow!
First spatula, huh?
Ooh, first spatula!
YouTube thinks you’ll like this recipe next.
Let's see if they're right.