Awesome Thai Food

Ingredients

• 15-18 Large dried red chili, take the stem off and remove the seeds
• 1 cup garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup shallots, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup dried shrimp
• 2 Tbsp shrimp paste wrapped in banana leaves and burnt
• 3-4 Tbsp tamarind juice (sour and concentrated type)
• 5 Tbsp fine fish sauce
• 4 Tbsp palm sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ cup vegetable oil, for frying

How to do…
1. Set a pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot start to fry the following ingredients individually in the following order: dried shrimp, chopped shallots, chopped garlic and dried chili. You do not need to change the oil between ingredients.

2. Start to pound the fried ingredients one at a time. Pound fried dried chili with salt thoroughly first (or may use the grinder but make sure it will get really fine) and then follow with the fried shallots, fried garlic and fried dried shrimp, respectively. Make sure that all ingredients are fine, and then add the burnt shrimp paste into it. Pound everything together well.

3. Use the same pan to put on the low heat (also use the remaining oil from previous frying). When the oil starts to get hot then add the prepared pounded chili mixture into the pan to fry. Season with palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind juice. Stir them up. Taste as you like. Stir for another 5-7 minutes then turn off the heat.

4. Lift the pan off the heat and let it cool down. Bring the chili oil to serve with fresh vegetables. Or use it as an ingredient in any other dish like stir fried undulated surf clam with chili oil (Hoy Lai Pad Nam Phrik Pao), stir fried curry powder (Pad Pong Ga-ree), etc. The remaining chili oil can be packaged in bottles or containers with a closed lid and then keep in the refrigerator, which can be kept to eat for months.