Chinese Crispy Chili Oil

Ingredients

• 325ml (1 ½ cups) rapeseed (canola) oil or another neutral vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 4 star anise
• 1 x 5cm (2 inch) cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp cloves
• 2 black cardamom pods (optional)
• 1 cup Sichuan chili flakes
• 1 sp salt (to taste)

Steps

1. Place all of the spices in a medium sized sauce pan and cover with the oil. It is important that you use a pot that allows for at least a 5cm (2 inch) space between the level of the oil and the top of the pan.
2. Gently heat the oil over a medium heat. You are aiming for a cooking temperature of 110C/225F. If you don’t have an oil thermometer, just watch the oil closely. The oil should gently simmer around the spices. If it is boiling too vigorously, you will burn the spices and it will become bitter, so take the oil off the heat or reduce the heat to low if too many bubbles are forming. Likewise, if you are not seeing small bubbles that slowly rise from the spices, turn up the heat some.
3. Watch it all carefully and infuse the flavour of the spices into the oil in this way for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour for more flavour.
4. Meanwhile, pour the Sichuan chili flakes into a heat-proof bowl or pan. When you are finished infusing the spices into the oil, carefully, pour the oil through a fine mesh strainer over the chili flakes.
5. Stir the oil into the chili flakes. As you do this, you’ll be hit with the aroma of what smells like popcorn. That is the chilies roasting in the hot oil.
6. Allow to cool some and then add salt to taste. Pour the chili oil into a clean, air-tight container. You can keep this oil for about 6 months in this way.
7. To add the aromatics, simply fry the garlic, ginger and spring onions (scallions) over a medium-high heat until lightly browned and a bit crispy. Don't burn the garlic!
8. Pour the fried aromatics into the amount of oil you want to flavour. In this case I only used enough aromatics to flavour half of the oil.