She peeling garlic, me shucking chili pepper seeds, all the while laughing about whether making homemade Chili Crisp Oil would be worth it in the end.

She had presented me with a jar of this fiery condiment several months ago and honestly I hadn’t used it much.

How to Use Chili Crisp Oil

But then I made sticky asian beef meatballs where the combination of sweet and heat was addicting.

Followed by chicken satay meatballs where I replaced sriracha with this crispy garlic oil.

Spooned over a simple bowl of ramen and it will be transformed into a flavor explosion.

And that was all in a matter of three days last week. Once I started using it I couldn’t stop thinking of the next dish that would incorporate Chili Crisp Oil. That’s when I decided we needed to start making our own.

I had arrived to her house with a recipe draft chicken scratched onto a post-it and the basic ingredients in tow. Lots of garlic and shallots, a big bottle of avocado oil, and dried chili peppers from the hispanic market, which by the way is always such a treat. There are so many wonderful ingredients begging for me to discover.

Quick funny story. For most of my life I have been a spicy food wimp. I’ve come around for sure, but even still I rarely use the really hot spices, including crushed red pepper flakes. I’m certain as I browsed through others recipes that somewhere I read to “remove the seeds from the dried pods.” Since we’re making what I know to be a spicy oil I’m thinking that we’re going to use the seeds from these gorgeous dried peppers. She sheepishly admits that she collected the seeds and discarded the outer chilies. Red chilies. The chilies that give Chili Crisp Oil its signature color and crispiness.

In the end, we had a deliciously infused oil, much milder in nature but not at all true Crispy Chili Oil.

Recipe note to self: read the entire recipe before you begin.

The Process

Back to the tried and tested recipe, where you remove the seeds from the pods and discard them.

What’s left are these beautiful red chilies that get ground up in your spice grinder. Then the chiles are rehydrated with hot garlic, shallot, cinnamon stick, and star anise infused oil that has been simmering for nearly an hour.

Not only is the oil infused but after cooling, the crispy garlic and shallot are returned to the oil at the end to bulk up the crunch factor (and flavor).

Chili Crisp Oil Ingredients

For our Chili Crisp Oil, to the ground chili pods we added smoked paprika, toasted sesame seeds, Szechuan peppercorns (another funny story…they’re not really peppers), anchovy paste, and salt.

This recipe allows you to get creative according to your taste and preference.

Oil – Starting with the oil, a nice neutral oil works well, like avocado, grape seed, vegetable, peanut.

Peppers – For the peppers, you can choose a dried variety from the hispanic market like we did (we used mostly Arbol Chili and Chile Japones, with a handful of Guajillo Chilies). Or you can use crushed red pepper flakes, fresh peppers like Serrano or a combination.

Spices – You can use smoked paprika or regular paprika or cumin or another favorite spice.

Nuts/Seeds – We chose toasted sesame seeds, but you could use peanuts or soy nuts to add additional crunch.

Szechuan Peppercorns – The Szechuan Peppercorns seemed to be included in most every recipe I read, however once I learned that they weren’t actually peppercorns we had no substitution in our first attempt. I did however locate them at Penzeys Spices – so I made the 30 minute drive this morning to pick some up. Another funny story, Penzeys is closed for in-store shopping, they only do curb-side and the website said it could take up to two days to process. So thankfully I was able to locate them at Cost Plus World Market which was nearby.

Umami – Our final ingredient is where this sauce gets its savory umami flavor, the anchovy paste. You can substitute or combine soy sauce, mushroom powder, MSG, ginger, sugar, chili powder.

The hot infused oil is poured through a mesh strainer over the chili flakes and remaining ingredients. The cinnamon sticks and star anise are discarded and the garlic and shallots are cooled, allowing them to crisp up, before returning to the oil.

The Results

I intentionally made this a big batch recipe. If you’re going to go to all this effort, make friends and share the love! I’ll be passing a jar over the fence to Ms. Pat and bringing Shelby a proper jar of red Chili Crisp Oil. You can certainly cut the recipe in half, yielding about 2 cups.

Back to the original question of whether it would be worth the work to make homemade Chili Crisp Oil. I’ve made it two days in a row. So yes, you need to make it too!

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram and Facebook! And check out our latest TikTok videos and Pinterest boards too!

All my best,
xo Libby

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Chili Crisp Oil

Once I started using it I couldn’t stop thinking of the next dish that would incorporate Chili Crisp Oil. 

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 4 cups avocado oil
• 4 heads garlic about 40-50 cloves
• 4 large shallot
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 star anise
• 4 cups dried chili pods we used mostly arbol chilies and chile japones, with a handful of chile guajillo
• 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 Tablespoon anchovy paste
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Peel and thinly slice the garlic and shallot. Add to a pot with the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and oil. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring ocassionally, until the ingredients become a nice deep golden brown. About 35-45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, wearing disposible plastic gloves, remove and discard the seeds and stems from the dried chilies, some remaining seeds are fine. Grind the chili pods in a spice grinder until they are similar in size to crushed red pepper flakes. It's okay if the pieces vary in size.
• Place the ground chilies in a heat proof or metal bowl along with remaining ingredients.
• Once garlic and shallot are browned, pour the oil through a mesh strainer (catching the garlic and shallot) into the bowl with the chilies, stir to combine. Discard the cinnamon sticks and star anise. Allow the garlic and shallot to cool before adding in to the oil mixture.
• Refrigerate in covered jars. Keeps up to three months.

Notes

Yields 4 cups of Chili Crisp Oil.

The post Chili Crisp Oil appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Char Sui is Chinese BBQ Pork.  Don’t let the word BBQ fool you.  This isn’t your typical southern pulled pork BBQ (albeit we love that).  No, the flavors and cooking method for Char Sui is quite different.  And the results…phenomenal.  Juicy, melt-in-your-mouth pork infused with a sweet & sticky marinade.  Let us not pass over what makes Char Sui dreamy good.  Crispy. Pork Fat. Rules!!

Our new pellet smoker has been fired up almost every weekend.  We’ve had some combination of meats/seafood slow roasting in the smoky love tank.  If Boston Butt Pork Roast is on sale, we’re buying it.  Just so happens, we scored an 11 lb. roast.  Mind you we are two people and that’s a lot of pork.  So we decided to divide and conquer.  One pound for me to make Char Siu, a 5 lb. roast for the smoker and a 5 lb. roast for the freezer.

Recipe Note: depending on what kind of pork roast you begin with, you’ll want to cut 3-4 slabs to put into the marinade.  We got three out of our roast that were each about 1-inch thick and maybe 3-inches X 5-inches in overall size.  Once fully cooked, we further cut each slab into 1/2-inch cross-sections.

Ingredient Note: Once we got home with our ginormous pork butt, we weren’t going back to the grocery store.  So when we realized we probably needed Hoisin Sauce and Chinese 5-Spice Powder…we improvised.  Our ingredient list yielded the right balance of sweet and spice.  Feel free to improvise.

You’ll want to serve your Char Sui with white rice or perhaps our Shrimp Fried Farro.

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Char Siu Roast Pork

Prep Time 8 hours hours

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 8 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Boston Butt Pork Roast cut into slabs about 1-inch thick; about 3-inches X 5-inches.

Char Sui Sauce…

• 2 Tbl. soy sauce
• 2 Tbl. maple syrup
• 1 Tbl. ketchup
• 1 Tbl. sriracha sauce
• 1 Tbl. rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbl. honey
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground clove
• 1/8 tsp. ground star anise

Instructions

• Combine sauce ingredients and pour into a zip top bag. Add pork and marinate overnight in the refrigerator; or for at least 4 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line shallow rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place a wire rack in pan and lay pork slabs on rack. Bake for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, pour marinade into a small saucepan and bring to a boil for one minute. Remove pork from oven after 20 minutes; turn over pieces. Baste with char sui sauce. Return to oven for an additional 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and slice each slab into 1/2-inch slices.
• Delicious served with white or fried rice.

The post Char Siu Roast BBQ Pork appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Vietnamese Beef Pho.

Let me just say this about that.  I don’t think I’ve ever delivered so much flavor with so little effort.  When I got home from work I assembled everything I needed, put the broth and seasoning on to simmer, all in about 5 minutes.  I did also pop our beef filet into the freezer, which later helped with getting a nice thin slice.

I was introduced to Pho, a year ago or so, during a Sundays with Shelby outing (thankfully she’s taught me that it’s properly pronounced “fuh” not “fo”).  While the amazing broth captured my attention, being a big time sucker for lots and lots of accoutrements is what was so special about this dish.  I was a bit giddy about building my own bowl of fun.

This dish can easily be made at home.  Infuse beef broth with a tea ball filled with 3 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cardamom pods, 8 peppercorns, and a piece of ginger for about 30 minutes (low simmer).

You’ll want to serve the hot broth with a good assortment of fresh basil (Thai basil is recommended), fresh mint, scallion, jalapenos, bean sprouts, lime wedges and of course the thin sliced beef.  Let us not forget the noodles.  Here’s where I veered off course a bit.  A classic Pho calls for rice noodles.  I wanted to make this dish on Tuesday.  There were no rice noodles in sight.  I opted for fresh linguine noodles available at my local grocer.  They were just fine.

To serve Vietnamese Beef Pho, I add cooked noodles and bean sprouts into oversized soup bowls.  I add several pieces of very thinly sliced raw beef (you could substitute raw peeled shrimp or have both).  When the hot seasoned broth is poured over the beef it cooks it instantly. I then add my herbs and aromatics and a good squeeze of lime juice.  You can also kick up the heat with a squeeze of Sriracha sauce, but I find the fresh jalapeno slices give me the heat I need.  I’m really enjoying all of the Vietnamese dishes I’ve recreated at home.  Bánh mì‘s (crazy incredible sandwiches loaded with flavor) are next up on my radar.  Enjoy.

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Vietnamese Beef Pho

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For the broth

• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 Tbl. fish sauce
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 star anise
• 2 cardamom pods
• 8 peppercorns
• 1 piece of fresh ginger about 1/4-inch thick

For the assembly…

• 1 5 ounce beef tenderloin filet
• 4 ounces rice noodles or fresh linguine cooked according to package instructions
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1 lime cut into wedges
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno sliced
• a good handful of fresh basil leaves preferably Thai basil
• a good handful of fresh mint leaves

Instructions

To prepare…

• Warm beef broth and fish sauce in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom pods, peppercorns, and ginger in a spice bag or tea ball. Simmer for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, freeze beef filet wrapped in plastic wrap for 30 minutes, then using sharp knife slice as thinly as possible.
• Prepare noodles according to package instructions, then cool to stop cooking; reserve.
• Assemble all remaining ingredients for serving.

To serve…

• Place 1/2 of the noodles and bean sprouts in two bowls. Serve with hot beef broth, sliced beef, aromatics, and herbs.

Other Vietnamese dishes you might enjoy.

Vietnamese Pork Tenderloin

Grilled Vietnamese Chicken Thighs

The post Vietnamese Beef Pho appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I made scrumptious Pistachio-Chai muffins yesterday afternoon.  I sat down at my computer this morning, muffin by my side, to write about them.  I didn’t get two sentences in before I was stuck.  How do I describe the flavor of Chai Tea?  I love it.  I’ve had it many times since Shelby first introduced it to me several years ago.  I know there’s cinnamon, I think there may be ginger and clove, but it’s depth of flavor is far more than that.

Perhaps a little Spice Exploration is in order.  And so I did what I do….read at least a dozen Chai Tea recipes, researched the origin of Chai, and had a quick geography lesson.  What I’ve learned from this mini-research session is that Chai Tea blends are as unique to South Asian cuisine as are Curry Powders.

After doing all the research for my muffin post, there was only one thing left to do…make Homemade Chai Tea.  I followed a basic recipe from Whole Foods and only adapted it slightly to create a fuller more bold flavored tea.  Delicious and ever so perfect with a nice warm Pistachio-Chai Muffin.

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Homemade Chai Tea Latte

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author adapted from Whole Foods

Ingredients

• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• 6 whole cloves
• 6 cardamom pods
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 cube crystallized ginger or 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2 single-serve black tea tea bags
• 1 cup milk
• 2 Tbl. brown sugar
• 2 cups water

Instructions

• Place cinnamon, star anise, cloves, cardamom pods, peppercorns, and ginger in a small pot with two cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to steep for an additional 10 minutes.
• Return pot to heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add tea and cover. Let steep for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, discard solids. Return liquid to pot, add in milk and brown sugar. Heat over low 1-2 minutes until hot. Pour into mugs to serve.

The post Homemade Chai Tea Latte appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I’ve mentioned before how much I adore my hair stylist.  And I think you also know by now that I LOVE to talk about food.  So when I have my time in the salon chair with a captive audience…we talk about food.  I’m so happy that she has become a Lemony Thyme follower.  Through conversation, I’ve always known she was a ‘good eater’ (something my mom labeled you as, IF you were willing to try different cuisines, and of course clean your plate).

Having said that, she’s young and still honing her own cooking skills.  She shared that she loved the egg recipes I had been posting, but no matter how hard she tried she could not poach an egg.  To quote her, “they always end up like egg drop soup.”  And that was the recipe inspiration for this Egg Drop Soup post.

For her, and anyone else who has yet to master the poached egg…stay tuned for a step by step on what works for me.

All the recipes I read for Egg Drop Soup called for three basic ingredients: a nice broth, eggs, and a little corn starch.  Some also suggested added ingredients, like scallions, mushrooms, and tofu.  I chose to adapt this recipe by The Kitchn because I loved the flavor nuances they added.  I chose to infuse my broth with cinnamon stick, star anise, peppercorns, and fresh ginger.

First recipe tip, this tea ball was the perfect infuser, although spice bags or cheese cloth would work well too.  Simply simmer the broth for 10 – 15 minutes then remove the spice ball.  Make a corn starch slurry with about ¼ cup of broth and 1 Tbl. of cornstarch.  Whisk it back into the broth and add any additional recipe ingredients like scallions or mushrooms and cook an additional 5 minutes.

For the egg drop, whisk the eggs with 1 tsp. of corn starch in a small bowl.  Bring the broth to barely a simmer then drizzle the beaten egg into the broth.  The second recipe tip I followed was to pour the egg over the tines of a fork and slowly swirl the broth with a whisk as you add the egg.  By my calculation this requires three hands (or you can balance the fork across the pan).

This recipe is simple to make yet full of flavor.  I actually went home and made this for lunch today.  At first taste the ginger and star anise flavors were most prevalent, but then my tongue detected a hint of cinnamon and the rich chicken broth.  We topped ours with thinly sliced scallions which were a fine addition.  Egg Drop Soup was the perfect lunch soup and would also make a fantastic first course for an Asian themed dinner.  Hmmm….did someone say Asian themed dinner?!

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Egg Drop Soup {Simple and Satisfying}

Egg Drop Soup was the perfect lunch soup and would also make a fantastic first course for an Asian themed dinner.

Course Soup

Cuisine Chinese

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author lightly adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbl. + 1 tsp. corn starch
• ½ cinnamon stick optional
• 1 star anise optional
• 10-12 peppercorns optional
• ½ ” sliced ginger optional
• 2-3 scallions thinly sliced, optional

Instructions

• Place broth flavor infusers in a tea ball or spice bag and simmer with broth for 10 – 15 minutes then remove the spice ball.
• Make a corn starch slurry with about ¼ cup of broth and 1 Tbl. of cornstarch. Whisk it back into the broth and add any additional recipe ingredients like scallions or mushrooms and cook an additional 5 minutes.
• For the egg drop, whisk the eggs with 1 tsp. of corn starch in a small bowl.
• Bring the broth to barely a simmer then drizzle the beaten egg into the broth, pouring over the tines of a fork while slowly swirling the broth.
• Serve with a sprinkling of sliced scallion

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