The combination of chillies and sichuan peppercorns is just divine. And so typical of sichuan cuisine. I used to live in Beijing for 2.5 years. In this time I absoblutely fell in love with chinese cuisine, but sichuan cuisine in particular. And the sichuan peppercorn is largely responsible for that. I just love the tingly, numbing, citronny, sharp taste.
(Wikipedia about Sichuan Pepper)
So I was delighted to discover this home-made chili oil.
To me, it’s simply Sichuan in a Bottle.
RECIPE
6 T sichuan peppercorns (see picture above)
8 T chili flakes (ready bought or chop some dried chilies yourself)
1 t salt
1 T sesame oil
360 ml peanut oil
Put everything except the oil in a heat proof container.
Heat oil between 107 to 122.5 degrees Celsius and pour over the other ingredients. Be carefull because it will sizzle. (Or actually, when you have a thermometer, like I do, you will notice it won’t sizzle at all. If you don’t, then yes, be careful)
Leave to cool down. After the flavors have blended for a day you can sieve the oil, if you wish. Store in your refrigerator for a couple of weeks.
Funny thing is that with my version it always “sets”.
When I take it out of the fridge it will become nice
and translucent again, but cold it looks like this.
I’m quite sure it doesn’t make any difference to
the taste, but if anybody knows why this happens, please tell me!
Tags: chili oil, sichuan chili oil
April 11, 2008 at 9:37
what oil do you use? It looks like the oil is not hot enough, because the chopped chili flakes should reach the just-no-burning stage. When I make it, the oil turns bright red, and it doesn’t set, not even in the fridge.
April 11, 2008 at 11:20
I use peanut/groundnut oil. The first time I made this the oil was sizzling hot. The result you see on the photo. But then I searched the internet and with all similar recipes I found that the temperature should be between 107 to 122.5 degrees. Which just isn’t sizzling hot.
At first I was concerned. And disappointed, because the kitchen wasn’t bursting with sichuan aromas like the first time. But the result was similar. Maybe it’s even better? The aromas going in the oil, not in the air? I don’t know.
About the “setting”. I think it’s because of the chiliflakes I use. I have this big pot of dried chillies and when I need chiliflakes I just chop some in my blender.
I don’t mind though! That it’s setting. The sesame oil I have in my fridge does the same thing. I believe it doesn’t effect the flavour or quality.
April 15, 2008 at 19:36
No mystery here, the oil just becomes solid at low temp in the fridge, same with sesame oil indeed or olive oil for that matter.
Regarding heating, I am preparing a post on this subject because I agree, less flavour in the air is more in the oil!
April 15, 2008 at 20:43
The mystery however is why Kattebelletje’s chili oil doesn’t set.
The answer probably is that sunflower oil she uses has a different “setting” point?
For your post about heating oil, maybe you could also look into the instruction (which I didn’t follow) to first heat the oil until smoking hot and then let it cool down until 107-122 degrees before pouring it over the chillies? What could be the reason behind that? Any idea?
July 27, 2008 at 1:10
Infusing sichuan peppercorns and chili in oil sounds great!
August 5, 2008 at 11:22
You should really try, it’s an instant “sichuanizer”.