Happy Chili Day!

To honor the chili pepper today, I have attempted to replicate the house made chili oil you find at the table at asian restaurants. I mostly followed Gary Wiviot‘s recipe from LTH with some added spices – cinnamon, star anise and cardamom. I found a bag of dried Szechuan peppers and fermented beans at the local asian grocery store. Only three more days of Grape Harvest month!

Chili Oil

1 cup of dried Szechuan chilis (I found whole and ground them coarsely at home)

2 tbs fermented black beans

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise pod

5 cardamom pods

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 1/2 cup corn oil (or peanut oil)

Heat the oil in a heavy pot until slightly hot. G Wiv suggests using a deep fry thermometer and hitting 220. Add the chilis, beans, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom and garlic. Simmer for 30 minutes, but do not let the spices burn. Remove from heat and add salt and sugar. Once cool, store in the fridge. Enjoy!