Add Spice to Your Dishes: Homemade Chili-Garlic Oil

I finally made it!

It is easily one of my most favorite condiments of all time. I fell it love with it when I had my first siomai many years ago, and boy, oh boy! I never forgot it ever since.

Back when I was still in the Philippines, I only get the chance to have it when we eat at Chowking a Chinese-inspired food chain. Having no idea on how to make it, it went on that way for many years. Until it became "famous" as a home-made condiment.

A few weeks ago, @honeytart18, shared her own home-made version of chili-garlic oil and then I knew, I had to try it too.

The ingredients are easy to find, and it is not so difficult to make too. You just need to be mindful when handling the chilis - better use hand gloves when you need to chop the them manually.

Ingredients:

• 150g Thai Chilis
• 1 head garlic
• 1 small onion
• 1 tbsp black pepper corns
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp sugar
  
  

I used a food processor to mince the chilis, garlic, and onion. Whew! It saved me a lot of time, and that chance that I might burn my hands (and sting my eyes!) with those chilis.

Cooking the chili-garlic oil needs a lot of time as you need to cook it over low fire only. You do not want to end up with burnt garlic. You have to keep on stirring it so it cooks evenly, for around 25-30 minutes. You want a dark (black-ish) color on your chili. Adding sugar and vinegar/lemon juice are optional. I guess it will keep the shelf life of the chili-garlic oil longer. Since I only made small quantity, I decided to forego the vinegar/lemon juice.

Store the chili-garlic oil in a small glass jar, and make sure it is tightly capped to avoid it from spoiling early.

You can add this when cooking meat, to add more spice to your dish, or simply as a sauce to dip fried fish, meat, dumplings, anything you wish to add some delicious kick to! It is definitely going to sky-rocket your appetite! Deym! Do I even need to tell you that? LOL.

Anyhow, let me also share you a short clip of how I prepared it. Hope you like it!