I bought a bottle of basil infused oil a while ago from the shop. A scent from using the oil when cooking is just amazing! Store-bought infused oils can cost you fortune. So I decided to make my own using dried chillies and cloves of pickled garlic. You can make infused vinegar, honey, oils with dried or fresh herbs. As a chilli and garlic lover, I’m going for this chilli and garlic infused oil, but feel free to try with rosemary, pepper, lemon, thyme, basil, etc.
I used a handful of whole birds-eye chillies (very hot!) and a few pickled garlic cloves that I made before. Warm the light olive oil and ingredients in a sauté pan and warm over medium heat for a couple of minutes (not boiling!). Let the oil cool completely and transfer to a sterilised jar. You can leave the ingredients in the bottle or strain before using. Allow to infuse for a week in the fridge.
Please note that fresh garlic and herbs that contain any trace of water or moisture might cause a bacterial growth. So if you do use fresh ingredients, keep it refrigerated and use within a week. Or another option is using dried ingredients or preserved ingredients in a brine or vinegar solution just like what I did with dried chillies and pickled garlic. I made this for my mother-in-law 🙂 Hope she likes it x
