Chili Oil: how do I make it?

[shibole]

I'm wondering what methods are used for making "chili oil." I'm not sure if I'm using the right term here but I'm talking about the stuff that seems to be made by cooking hot peppers with vegetable oil for some period of time.

Now I know there are lots of types of this oil/sauce (some with anchovies, black bean, hua jiao, etc) but I'm wondering what the basic method used to make this stuff is. 老干媽 (not sure if I spelled that right) is my wife's and my favorite brand. According to the ingredients it contains peppers, oil (duh), peanuts, hua jiao, salt, and that's pretty much it. Yet if I mix together something like this using those dried red peppers typically used in Mexican food then I basically end up with just a really hot oil that lacks the "tangy" character of something like 老干媽. Visually inspecting the 老干媽 it looks like the pepper seeds are fatter (perhaps fresh or soaked in something beforehand) and look rather burnt around the edges.

So this has got me to wondering:

Are fresh peppers normally used for this?

What kind of peppers specifically?

Are the peppers fermented/aged somehow?

Are the peppers soaked in anything (maybe salt water or vinegar) beforehand?

Are the peppers dry roasted or anything or do they just get "roasted" in the oil?

How long do you cook the peppers in the oil and at what temperature?

etc. etc.

Seems like all the uniqueness in making this stuff is probably in the process and not in the ingredients if I had to guess. I don't really care to exactly copy 老干媽 but it would be nice to get something a little more interesting than the equivalent of capsicum mixed with peanut oil.

[liuzhou]

Besides 老干媽, a prime example of what you seem to be referring is Guilin Chili Sauce. However, people tend to buy it as an ingredient. I don't know of anyone who makes it at home.

[shibole]

Normally I might not try to make something like this myself, but I have a crazy amount of red pepper around and it might get used up faster if I make something like this with it.

[skylee]

Take a look -> http://www.wretch.cc/blog/hkmomo&article_id=8549862

把辣椒洗淨，用抹手紙抹乾水份~

用剪刀剪成這樣子~

燒一鍋油，放進辣椒煮一會便可，冷卻後才放進瓶子，存冰箱慢慢享用~

[magudo]

why dont you just bey from super market?

老乾媽is very cheap, and teast much better than home made.

you can buy some dried mashed red chili, or chili powder

chop some garlic mix with red chili, sugar, salt

put some oil in the pan, and turn on the stove

wait until there some smoke comeing out from the oil

turn off the stove

wait 5 minute to get the oil cooler (if the temperature too high, the chili will burnd)

one hand dump the oil into the mixed chili slowly

the other hand mix round the chili and oil

this is an common method to make the chili oil

some people have different recipes, but the process will be same.

[heifeng]

i agree with the above poster...and definitely keep in mind the oil temperature is key otherwise you'll waste a ton of oil, peppers and your house will smell bad for a while...

[nitnoy]

if the house smell bad after cooking, you can actually burn some candle in the kitchen, it will help to clear the smell, thats what i will do after frying salted fish

[shibole]

Thanks for the help everyone. Looks like fresh peppers are usually used. I think I agree that I'm unlikely to be able to make anything as good as what I can just buy at the store, but sometimes I like to try anyway.

[magudo]

if you have fresh red peper, you can cut them in little square, and chop lots of garlic, mix the red peper and choped garlic with lots of salt, put it in a clean glass bottle, seal it, wait 7 days, then you can get 腌辣椒

the glass must be clean and dry, dont let any un-boiled water touch the bottle and peper.

the 腌辣椒 taste sour and spicy(if your red pepers are spicy), and you can put some sugar and sesame oil when you eat it.

[zozzen]

Caution: Don't make the oil too hot, otherwise the water in fresh chili will make fire burn over the oil and the chili will be burnt very quickly. That can be dangerous to a beginner. I've heard an accident that an unprofessional staff in a food shop had made a disastrous mistake on this. Even worse, she put water into the oil when the fire blew up and 50% of her skin was burnt.

If you just do it for fun and not experienced at handling chili oil, you can simply put both fresh chili (dry them with a clothe) and dried chili into a bottle, add some salt and whatever spices you like (garlic, 豆豉, 花椒, 八角 whatever) , put very hot oil directly into the bottle, close the lid until the oil is cool down. That's the easiest way to go.

[shibole]

Thanks for the info zozzen and magudo.

Don't worry, I'm pretty familiar with how not to put out an oil fire. I've accidentally gotten a few drops of water in some boiling oil before and it isn't pretty. When that happens it's time to put the top on and wait for the fireworks to stop. I can only barely imagine what would happen if someone dumped a huge amount of water into boiling, burning oil and it doesn't seem good. That person must have known nothing about cooking with oil.