Today, we’re making
Chinese chili oil,
a condiment that goes great on everything,
from dumplings to chow mein,
and even ice cream,
giving it a bold, aromatic kick of spice.
Wow, looks so good!
This is beautiful!
Good job, Dad!
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More on that later…
but first, my dad will show you the way
Chinese restaurants create this yummy chili oil
right at home,
starting with the key ingredient,
dried chili flakes.
The ingredients for chili oil are very simple.
Dried chili flakes.
About 1.5 oz.
First, we’ll measure out 1.5 ounces of dried chili flakes into a bowl.
"What kind of chili flakes should you use?"
Chinese people usually use
Sichuan chili flakes.
How would you put it?
The type of heat that Sichuanese people create
is very unique,
and intentional.
You can taste the culture behind it.
Now, we’ll add more seasoning to our chili flakes.
All right.
Here, we'll add a little salt.
1/2 tsp of salt.
1/2 tsp of sugar.
1/2 tsp of white pepper as well.
A little bit of oil,
about 1 tbsp.
The purpose of this oil is
so when we add the hot oil,
it won't be as shocking of a temperature change.
This is a little wetter now.
And here’s a tip to enhance the red color of the chili oil.
We'll also add a bit of paprika.
1 tsp.
For the video, we want it
to look a brighter red.
Paprika.
For personal use, you don't have to use it.
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 chili mix done,
we’ll now prepare the fresh ingredients
that will infuse their flavor into the oil.
Ginger.
We'll add about 1/2 oz of ginger.
We’ll chop our ginger into thin slices.
We don't need a lot of onion.
1 oz is enough.
Then we’ll chop the red onion into thin strips.
Set it aside.
Just smash the shallot.
Did you grow those?
Yes, we grew these ourselves.
About 1 oz.
Put it here.
Garlic.
3 cloves.
What are these ingredients for?
When the oil sizzles over them,
they'll be even more aromatic.
It'll be amazing.
But you don't eat them.
No, we don't eat these.
We'll discard these.
Give it a smash.
After smashing and peeling the garlic,
we’ll roughly mince them.
Set these aside.
Star anise.
We only need 2 pieces.
Give them a smash.
If you don't have star anise on hand, you can omit it.
Wet it with some water.
This way, the sudden hot oil won't burn the star anise.
We’ll rinse the star anise a bit with tap water
to keep it from burning
when we place it into the hot oil later.
Sichuanese people have a much more complex way of making this oil.
Sichuan peppers, bay leaves, Chinese cinnamon,
they infuse a lot more ingredients.
My way is simpler.
Cantonese is not known for spicy food, right?
It's not very spicy,
but it can have spiciness.
It's just not like Sichuan cuisine
where everything is spicy.
Every single dish is red hot.
Cantonese cuisine is more selective with spiciness.
Chili oil, or laat ziu jau in Cantonese, is the stuff of legends.
From Chinese to Turkish to Mexican iterations,
all chili oils are some form of oil
infused with a combination of
chilies, chili flakes and powders, and various aromatics.
Sometimes, chili oil is used interchangeably with chili crisp -
they’re not the same,
but there is a huge amount of variety in both condiments.
We highly recommend watching this video
where June from Delish has a much more comprehensive lesson
on different kinds of chili oils.
Unlike spicier varieties from
the Sichuan and Hunan provinces of China,
which are known for their spicy cuisines,
my dad’s version is more of a Cantonese-style chili oil,
which is milder and simpler.
If you want a spicier chili oil,
you can try using spicier varieties of chili flakes or powders.
Now, with our wok and stove set up,
we’re ready to fry our aromatics.
Heat up the wok over high heat first.
We’ll heat our wok on high for about 20-30 seconds
before adding the oil.
Add about 4 oz of oil.
For this recipe, we can use any neutral flavored oil
that has a high smoke point,
which is the temperature at which
the oil stops shimmering or rippling
and starts smoking or burning.
Here's a chart that highlights the smoke points
of a few of the most common cooking oils.
Since we’re cooking the oil at high temperature today,
we can use oils such as corn oil,
canola oil, teaseed oil, or peanut oil.
These oils are also known as “neutral” oils,
which means they don’t impart strong flavors.
We want this because we’re infusing the flavors
of all the ingredients we have today
into the oil to enhance the chili flavor.
Now here’s a tip to know when the oil is hot enough.
When is it hot enough?
Put something in, see if it bubbles.
When it bubbles around something in it, it's hot enough.
When the oil is hot enough,
or when it bubbles around a small piece of onion,
we’re ready to start adding ingredients.
Add the ginger first.
We’ll add the slices of ginger
and fry for about 15 seconds,
then add our garlic.
We may need to lower the heat here if the oil gets too hot.
We should stay at around 300°F (149°C).
Then we’ll add the shallots right after.
Add the shallots.
300°F (149°C).
Is this on medium heat?
Yes, medium heat.
Medium heat is enough.
If the heat is too high,
the ingredients will burn,
instead of frying up aromatically, see?
After 30 seconds of frying the shallots,
we’ll add the onion.
Let's add the red onion.
Fry it up.
"Can you add fresh ingredients
like ginger, garlic, onion,
and if you do, would that make the oil spoil faster?"
If you use fresh ingredients, you must cook them through,
then you don't have to worry about spoilage.
All right, let's add the star anise.
After about 15 seconds of frying the onion,
we’ll add the star anise.
How long do you fry it for?
Fry it until the onions and ginger turn golden.
Long enough to extract their aromas.
Raise the heat just a tad.
The flavors are starting to come out now.
We’ll continue to fry while stirring constantly
for about 2.5 to 3 minutes
or until the ingredients are well-browned.
The ginger has turned golden.
Then we’re ready to take out the ingredients from the oil.
Scoop the solids out.
Is there a use for these?
No, we discard this.
Let's turn the heat down.
Scoop out all the solids.
While removing the ingredients,
my dad makes sure to squeeze as much oil as possible
back into the wok.
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!
Once the ingredients are out, we’ll reheat our oil.
Heat up the oil again.
It's 400°F (204°C) now.
That's too hot.
Too hot?
Yes, too hot.
If it's too hot,
then as soon as you pour it over the chili flakes, they'll burn.
How hot should it be?
It's best to keep it around 300°F (149°C).
We'll add some more oil to it.
Add some cool oil.
Because our oil was too hot here,
my dad added about 1 tbsp of room temperature oil
to bring the oil in the wok down to around 300°F (149°C).
Now we’re ready to pour the oil over our chili mix.
First of all, don't pour all the oil at once.
Pour it in three separate stages.
This is the first pour, and we're going slowly.
Stir it in.
The second time, slowly again.
"How do you avoid a smoky, burnt flavor?"
If you pour all the hot oil at once,
it's extremely hot, right?
Boom! It'll all burn and turn black.
But if you add a smaller amount, mix it in,
add some more oil, and mix that in,
then it won't be so suddenly, intensely hot.
Kevin and MK from Patreon asked,
How do you properly store it,
and how long does it last?
It'll keep for several months in the refrigerator.
Just use a clean spoon whenever you're scooping some out.
When you're scooping it, don't use wet spoons.
If you dip a wet spoon in, it'll go moldy.
Add that in.
Add it in.
All right, let's add some sesame seeds.
Now we can sprinkle in some sesame seeds
before heating up the oil again.
We'll heat up the oil some more.
It's okay for it to be hot now.
Oh, why?
Because it's been tempered with plenty of oil already.
At first, we didn't want to burn it.
Now that's not a concern.
Add the oil.
We’ll add one last ladle of the hot oil, and then…
Let's add some sesame oil,
just a quick drizzle of sesame oil.
We’ll mix in a teaspoon of sesame oil
to bring out the aromas of all the ingredients.
Teresa from Patreon asked,
"Can I just add more oil to this, or do I have to start all over?"
Heat up oil and add it in.
Oh! Cook it together, or-
No, just heat the plain oil itself.
Heat the oil, and then add it in.
No need to cook all of it.
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Our Chili Oil is complete!
I hope you all enjoy it!
Hong Doy, you can't have chili oil!
Cheers!
Oh my gosh!
Wow!
Mui Mui!
Are you old enough to eat chili oil?
Oh my god!
Wow!
YouTube thinks you’ll like this recipe next.
Let's see if they're right.