Orange and brown sugar chilli crisp

This is a fragrant variation of everyone’s favourite chilli oil. Infusing the oil with citrus zest adds a pop of orange flavour, and the brown sugar rounds things out nicely. It’s impossible to resist sloshing this over nearly everything.

orange peel from 4 oranges
vegetable oil 600ml
banana shallots 3, sliced into half-moons
garlic cloves 15, thinly sliced 
roasted peanuts 100g, roughly chopped
cloves 2
star anise 4
cinnamon stick 1
Sichuan peppercorns 1 tsp
chilli flakes 30g
sesame seeds 4 tbsp
flaky sea salt 2 tbsp
brown sugar 2 tbsp
light soy sauce 3 tbsp

Using a small, sharp knife, remove the majority of the white pith from the inside of the orange peels. There’s no need to get every last bit.

In a saucepan, heat the vegetable oil to 150C. Fry the shallots until golden, then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the garlic, frying until just golden. Then fry the peanuts until also golden, and remove.

Take the oil off the heat and carefully add the orange peels to the hot oil along with the cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick and peppercorns and then set aside to infuse for 1 hour.

Once it’s infused, strain the oil into a pan, pressing down to extract maximum oil from the peels.

Combine the chilli flakes, sesame seeds and salt in a heatproof bowl. Reheat the oil to 170C, then carefully strain over the chilli/sesame seed mixture. Add the fried ingredients to the oil and mix well.

Combine the brown sugar and soy sauce and mix well, then stir into the oil.

Set aside to cool, then transfer the chilli crisp to sterilised jars. It will keep in the fridge for several months.