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First Chilli Oil

October 26, 2026

Journal

Tried making chilli oil for the first time. Mostly because I bought a bunch of mason jars and a fun professional looking ladle scooping thing. I wanted 1 portion to be one scoop but that much oil will kill a man. So I soaked some kombu in water and added that to the oil and boiled it all together for a while. I’m pretty happy with the result. I’m still confused whether I should add salt to it or not. It felt a bit lacking when I added it as a topping but I’m mortified of over salting things (my achilles heel) so I think I’ll leave it out for now.

Kombu soaking in water in a steel bowl
Kombu soaking
Minced garlic and two whole scallions on a chopping board
Garlic minced, scallions waiting
Chilli and garlic frying in oil in a small saucepan, with a ladle strainer
Chilli and garlic frying
Kombu being lifted out of its soaking water with a sieve, chilli oil on the hob behind
Straining kombu
Red chilli oil in the small saucepan with the kombu dashi added
Dashi in
Mason jar of chilli oil labelled CHILLI OIL 26/10
Jarred and labelled
Hand holding a stainless-steel ladle with a deep round bowl
The scooping ladle
Pumpkin paneer curry over black rice in a meal-prep box, topped with the chilli oil
On pumpkin paneer
Chicken thighs over cabbage and rice, topped with the chilli oil and scallions
On chicken thighs over rice
Naan brushed with the chilli oil
Brushed on naan

Recipe

Haven't measured anything properly so off the top of my head:

Ingredients

  • 15g aleppo chilli flakes
  • 30g dried sichuan red chillies (ground them up in the blender)
  • 10 cloves of garlic minced
  • 75ml oil (that I had previously deep friend onions in for a biryani so I'm sure that contributes some flavor?)
  • 15g kombu with 200ml water (simmered down to maybe 125ml)
  • 3 scallions sliced

Method

  1. Fried the chilli and garlic for about 10 minutes on medium. Added the scallions somewhere along the way.
  2. Then added the dashi(?) and boiled for 15 minutes.

It all fits in a 350ml mason jar.

Tags:

chilli oilcondimentsspicygarlic