If you have whole chillies, toast these in a dry wok for a minute. Once they have cooled off, cut them up and deseed the chillies. If you are making straight red chilli oil add the Sichuan peppercorns and toast with the chillies.
Once deseeded, place the chillies in a blender and blend to a powder if you want pure ‘red chilli oil’ or simply blend down and leave lots of flakes if you want ‘aromatic chilli oil’.
If you are making ‘aromatic chilli oil’ toast your dried spices and Sichuan peppercorns in a dry wok until the spices become aromatic.
Place the oil in a saucepan over low heat and add the dried spices and Sichuan peppercorns and take the oil up to around 130˚C for a few minutes until infused. Strain out the spices. Increase the heat of the oil to 180˚C.
Place the chillies in a wok, pushing them up the sides of the wok leaving a little bare patch in the centre of the wok. We’re going to pour the oil here.
With the oil at 180˚C, pour half the oil into the centre of the wok and stir in the chillies quickly using cooking chopsticks or a long silicone spatula. It will splutter and bubble, but you want this for the first pour. Take the remaining oil off the heat.
Once the oil has been evenly distributed, wait until the oil temperature has reduced to 135˚C and pour in half of the remaining oil and stir.
When the oil is down to 85˚C, pour in and mix the remaining oil.
Take the chilli oil mixture off the heat and let it get down to room temperature.
Place the chilli oil mixture in a clean glass jar and refrigerate overnight.
If you’re making the ‘aromatic chilli oil’, it is now ready to use.
If you’re making the ‘red chilli oil’, strain the oil to remove the chilli and place back into a clean jar. The oil is now ready to use.