Tangy Hot Oil

This Oil is similar to what we are accustomed to getting in most Chinese Restaurants. Our family, all of us being spice eaters:-) always take a few extra of these ‘Hot Oils’ whenever we are eating Chinese. This Tangy Hot Oil is something which I experimented at home, by adding a few more things to the basic oil and crushed red peppers. The result was pretty well accepted and I have also used the oil to cook some other dishes with it for extra spicy flavor.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup  oil
2. 2-3 cloves of garlic
3. 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar
4. 1 tablespoon of ginger juice (grate fresh ginger and strain out the juice)
5. 2 tablespoons of crushed dry red pepper
6. 3 hot green chili pepper ( numbers may be adjusted to taste), thinly sliced
7. 1 tablespoon ketchup
8. 1 tablespoon any red hot sauce, like Sriracha

Method:

Chop/ mash cloves of garlic. In a small bowl mix together ginger juice, ketchup, hot sauce, vinegar and slit green hot peppers.

Heat oil to smoking hot. Add mashed garlic and the red pepper flakes. The pepper flakes will turn dark and you will start to feel the spice and the heat of the peppers.  Add the mixture in the bowl to this hot oil and simmer, quickly give it a couple of stirs (be very careful as the hot oil might pop and splutter) and switch off the heat.

Cool and store in a a non reactive container/bottle in a dark place. It will keep for a week.

Serve with Fried Rice or even use it as spiced cooking oil.