Alright, so I got this craving the other day. You know, that specific kind of hot sauce they give you at the good dim sum places? Not just straight chili oil, but the one with bits in it, garlic maybe? Yeah, that one. Couldn’t find anything quite like it in the stores nearby, everything was either too vinegary or just pure heat.
So, I thought, how hard can it be? Decided to give it a shot myself. First thing was figuring out what actually goes in it. Watched a few folks make similar stuff online, took some notes. Seemed like the basics were chilies, garlic, oil, and maybe some other bits for flavor.
Getting Stuff Ready
Went to the Asian market. This part was easy enough. Grabbed:
- A bag of dried red chilies. Not the super tiny hot ones, but the fragrant kind.
- A whole bunch of garlic. Seriously, like two whole heads.
- Some neutral oil. Went with canola, didn’t want anything too strong tasting.
- A knob of ginger.
- Soy sauce, a bit of sugar, salt. Standard stuff.
Got back home, washed everything up. The main job, really, was prepping the chilies and garlic. This took way longer than I expected. Snipped the ends off the chilies, shook out most of the seeds – didn’t want it crazy hot, more about the flavor. Then, the garlic. Peeled every single clove. My fingers smelled for days, no joke.
Mixing and Cooking It Up
Chopped everything up. Minced the garlic and ginger really fine. Put the dried chilies in a food processor, pulsed them until they were coarse flakes, not powder. You want texture, right?
Next, the oil. Poured a good amount into a pot, maybe two cups? Heated it up gently. Threw in the minced garlic and ginger. You gotta be careful here, keep the heat low. You want to slowly fry them until they’re fragrant and just starting to turn golden, not burn them. Burnt garlic is just bitter, ruins the whole thing.
Once the garlic and ginger smelled amazing and looked right, I turned off the heat. Let the oil cool down just a tiny bit, maybe for a minute or two. Then, carefully poured the hot, infused oil over the chili flakes in a heatproof bowl. It sizzled like crazy, which is exactly what you want. That sound is basically the flavor activating.
Stirred it all together. Added a splash of soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, and some salt. Mixed it really well. The smell filling the kitchen? Spot on. It smelled like a proper dim sum joint.
The Result?
Let it cool completely, then put it in a jar. Scooped some out to try with some plain rice first. Man, it was pretty close! Got that nice savory, garlicky kick with a gentle warmth from the chilies. The texture was great too, all those little bits. It wasn’t exactly like the restaurant’s secret stash, but honestly? It was really, really good. Way better than the store-bought stuff I’d tried.
Made a decent sized jar, should last a while. Probably gonna tweak it next time, maybe add some fermented black beans or shallots? But for a first real attempt, felt like a success. Definitely doing this again. It’s just chopping and slow-frying, really. Worth the effort for that homemade taste.