We made a variation of Laoganma’s Chinese Chili Crisp sauce in Arlington, guided by Serious Eats (watch the video): it was excellent -- intense, rich, crunchy, very fiery, and had the "Málà" numbing affect from the Szechuan chilis. Now that we're living in Barcelona, I wanted to make a variation using local flavors: tasty chilis that aren't so hot, garlic (of course!), pimenton, olive oil, etc. I'm taking inspiration from that recipe, plus The Kitchn's (which references Chinese ingredients by proper names), and this Guide to Herbs and Spices in Spain.
This turned out well: plenty of crunch, rich flavors, and mild enough you can put it on anything; I could just pile it onto plain rice or couscous and eat it for dinner.
The chilis, olive oil, and almonds here are obvious Spanish substitutions; the ginger and fennel are more in line with the original, and should be amicable flavors. I have no intention to be authentic, only zesty and crunchy!
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| Served on fried egg on top of boniato (sweet potato) |
After deseeding and grinding the chilis, it's easier to measure the other mostly-dry ingredients directly into the bowl, rather than using a dozen mis-en-place dishes. A mandolin will speed slicing the Shallots, Fennel, and Garlic thinly and consistently. After slicing the Shallots and starting them frying, you can prep the Fennel, then Garlic while the previous one fries.
Makes about 500 ml
25 g Chili Choriceros
25 g Chili Ñora/Nyora
0.5 g Chili Cayenne (Pimienta Cayena, 30-50K Scoville)[5 small]
25 g Almonds, sliced (use good quality)
15 g Ginger, fresh, sliced into thin match sticks
1 g Anise seed
6 g Dried mushroom powder (grind dried mushrooms into powder)
10 g Sugar
15 g Coarse Salt
1 g Black Pepper
12 g Pimenton
8 g White Sesame Seeds
1 g Rosemary, minced
1 whole Orange Zest, chopped fine or coarse grate
1/2 stick Cinnamon, whole [1 g]
300 g Olive Oil (doesn't need to be extra virgin)
100 g Shallots, sliced 1mm thick
100 g Fennel, sliced 1 mm thick
50 g Garlic, sliced 1 mm thick [8 clove]
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| Mise en place isn't necessary |
Deseed the Chilis by slitting and shaking out seeds (gloves are a good idea here); discard the seeds.
Grind the chilis in a spice grinder (in batches) until about 2-4 mm chili-flake sized, not a powder.
Place in heatproof bowl large enough to accommodate boiling oil, at least 2 Liter.
Add the other (mostly dry) spices and herbs: Almonds, Ginger, Anise Seeds, Mushroom Powder, Sugar, Salt, Black Pepper, Pimenton, Sesame Seeds, Rosemary, Orange Zest, Cinnamon, and Bay Leaves.
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| De-seeded chilis, herbs, spices wait for hot oil |
Now for the crunchy bits!
Make sure the Shallots, Fennel, and Garlic are fried until fully crisp to remove all water; they should crisp up once they are removed from the oil for a minute.
Set a fine-mesh strainer over a 1 L heatproof bowl.
Add Olive Oil to a 2 L saucepan.
Add Shallots and cook over high heat until they are light golden brown, about 15 minutes; strain and retain; return oil to pot.
Add Fennel and repeat the process; it may take a bit longer to remove the water from the Fennel.
Add Garlic, cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until barely golden brown; strain, retain, return oil to pot.
Reserve the crunchy fried Shallots, Fennel, and Garlic.
Heat the flavored Oil to 190C (375F).
Pour into the large heat-proof bowl containing the Chilis, spices, herbs and other seasonings; it will bubble up ferociously!
Stir well so the hot oil cooks everything evenly.
If you think everything isn't quite browned enough, you can put it back on the fire (a metal bowl can go directly on an induction burner) but be careful not to burn things.
Let cool about 30 minutes.
Remove the Cinnamon stick and Bay Leaf.
Mix in fried Shallots, Fennel, and Garlic.
Pour into jars and store in fridge; it should last at least 3 months.
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| Served on plain white rice, makes for a zesty side dish |
2024-08-26 Tweaks
I've tweaked this over time, removing duplicative lemon, etc.
Today I've doubled the Rosemary to 2 grams, bumped the Almonds from 25 to 30 g, and added 75 g of Leek (sliced by hand, they were too soft for the mandolin). I had to bump up the Oil from 300 to 350g.
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