Sichuan Inspired Spice Oil
This recipe is from Good and Cheap.
Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly on a $4/day food stamps budget. The PDF is free (ahora en Español!) and has been downloaded more than 15,000,000 times. I have more cookbooks, too!
Use this spice oil on salads, in cold noodle dishes, or on roasted or sautéed vegetables. It’s inspired by the super delicious spice oil that you get on Dan Dan noodles! If you have trouble finding the spices, you can get all of them at most Asian grocery stores.
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 cup olive or vegetable oil
- 2 Tbsp chile flakes or dried red chiles
- 1 tsp Sichuan or regular peppercorns
- 1 star anise
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Use the side of a knife to crush the garlic clove until it cracks open. Add all of the ingredients to a small pot.
- Warm the mixture over low heat for about 10 minutes, until it starts to bubble gently and you can hear a bit of a sizzle, then turn off the heat. You want to heat it just enough to let the spices infuse into the oil, without getting so hot that the spices start to cook or fry.
- Remove the pot from the stovetop and put it in the fridge with a lid. Let the spices infuse for 4 to 8 hours.
- Taste the oil. If it isn’t strongly spicy, let it infuse for a few more hours. Once it’s ready, strain through a sieve to remove the spices.
- Store in a jar in the fridge for up to a week.
