Use chili oil to flavor steaks.
Chili oil, or cooking oil infused with hot spicy peppers, is a basic for Asian cuisine. It makes appearances in Moroccan dishes and Italian as well. Commercially available oils may be too spicy for your taste or perhaps even not spicy enough. Make your own with dried peppers and cooking oil. Use it to spice up salad dressing, sauces, chili and stir-fry dishes.
Instructions
1. Wash the peppers. Dry the peppers to a crisp texture using one of several methods: hang them up a warm place; put them in the oven set on warm for several hours or use a dehydrator. If you don't want to dry your own peppers, buy them already dried or use red pepper flakes.
2. Crush the dried peppers. Place them in a zipper-top bag. Pound the peppers with a rolling pin.
3. Put the cooking oil in a saucepan. Heat on medium heat until the oil reaches 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the peppers. The more peppers you add, the spicier the oil will be. Lower the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Cool the oil to room temperature. If you want the oil to be very spicy, do not strain. If the look of the bits and pieces of peppers isn't appealing, strain the oil using a fine mesh strainer and then strain the mixture again through a coffee filter placed in the strainer.
5. Keep the oil in the refrigerator. Oil and dried peppers won't spoil but if there was any moisture left in the peppers from the drying process, bacteria may attack. The cooking at 180 degrees for 5 minutes should destroy any bacteria but keep the oil in the refrigerator as a safety precaution. Botulism is a concern with any home preservation methods.
Tags: dried peppers
