House chilli oil, the noodle-shop jar

Ingredientsserves 4

Equipment

• A small heavy pan
• A heatproof bowl, ceramic or steel, never glass, because hot oil can crack glass. It must be bone dry.
• A probe thermometer. This jar is all temperature, so do not make it without one; supermarkets and kitchen shops sell them.
• A glass jar, scalded and dried, used only once the oil is cold

How the time splits

1. 15 minSlice the shallot and garlic, soak the shrimp, fill the chilli bowlhands on
2. 20 minFry the aromatics on low, then pour the oil in two goeshands on
3. 2 hrLeft until completely coldhands off
4. 12 hrJarred and in the fridge overnight before it is righthands off

Method

1. Slice the shallots and garlic thin and all the same thickness, so they colour together. Soak the dried shrimp ten minutes, pat them completely dry on kitchen paper and chop them: wet shrimp in hot oil spits.
2. Put the chilli flakes, chilli powder, salt and sugar in the heatproof bowl and mix. The bowl must be dry, and it must not be glass.
3. Put the oil in the pan cold with the shallot, garlic and shrimp, and cook on low, stirring all the time, for eight to ten minutes, until the shallot is golden and crisp and the garlic pale gold. Lift them straight out onto kitchen paper. They keep darkening after they leave the oil, so take them out at golden; brown means bitter.
4. If you are using star anise and Sichuan pepper, put them in the oil now for three minutes, then lift them out.
5. Heat the oil to about 165°C, measured with the thermometer. Pour a third of it slowly over the chilli, stirring as you pour; it will foam and smell toasted. This pour is the whole jar: above 180°C the chilli goes black and bitter, below 150°C the oil never turns red.
6. Let the rest of the oil in the pan fall to 140°C, then pour it into the bowl and stir.
7. Let it cool completely, then stir the crisp shallot, garlic and shrimp back in, jar it, and push everything below the surface of the oil. It wants a night in the fridge before it is right. With the crisp bits in, keep it in the fridge and finish it within a week; for a jar that keeps longer, leave them out, and plain chilli oil keeps six months in the fridge. Cold oil turns cloudy and thick, and that is normal.

Take care

• Crustacean (the dried shrimp), and peanut if you use peanut oil. Hot oil: the bowl dry and never glass, the pour slow, sleeves out of the way, nothing else cooking on the stove, and children out of the kitchen. Chilli in hot oil catches the throat, so open a window. Garlic and shallot sealed under oil is the one setting where botulism can grow: fry them until they are dry and crisp, keep the jar in the fridge, and finish it within a week.

The story

The jar on every noodle-shop table, next to the red vinegar, fried in the back from the shop's own shallots and dried shrimp. It is why a Hong Kong family in Australia always finds bought chilli oil not quite right. The site's 自家包雲吞, 白切雞, 拍青瓜 and 涼拌海蜇 are all waiting for a spoonful. It is the first jar on this wall with a hazard in the method, which is why most of this page is about the thermometer.

Same kind

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Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.