Mom's Vietnamese Lemongrass Chili Oil (Ớt Sa Tế)
Sharing not your basic lemongrass chili oil from my mom
I owe every ounce of my love for cooking to my mom.
Nothing that she makes is ever basic— nothing.
She’s the kind of woman who can sit down at a restaurant serving any kind of cuisine, fall in love with a dish, and then go home and recreate it from pure memory… only somehow, hers always tastes even better.
So it’s no surprise that at 57, she opened her own restaurant. Since then, she’s been gracing local newspapers and websites, collecting raving 5 star reviews, and building a loyal following of superfans who come back 4 times a week— sometimes more.
Today, I’m sharing one of my absolute favorite staples to have the fridge: her chili oil. If you love spice, it’s the kind of thing you’ll want to put on everything, but especially Asian broth-based dishes like pho, bún bò Huế, and stir-fried noodles.
I usually make a generous batch and keep it in a glass jar in the fridge, because once you start using it, there’s no going back.
Like all great cooks, my mom eyeballs everything and never uses exact measurements so what follows is just me guestimating.
I invite you to explore the recipe, adjust as you go, and make it your own.
Cook with confidence. Trust your taste and enjoy!
Mom’s Vietnamese Lemongrass Chili Oil (Ớt Sa Tế)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp minced lemongrass
1 tbsp red chili pepper flakes (or sichuan chili flakes)
2 bulbs of garlic (lots of garlic)
1 tbsp siracha sauce
3 tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
salt to bring out all the flavors
Directions:
Mince the garlic. (Have fun, it’s a lot. Chop chop chop)
Heat the pan on medium. Then add oil until it’s well heated. Add the garlic and sautee for 30 secs. Then remove the pan off the heat so that the garlic doesn’t burn. This is very important. You can always add it back to the heat if it’s not cooked to the crisp level you like.
Then add red chili pepper flakes, lemongrass, and siracha sauce.
Add pinch of salt. Adjust everything to taste based on how spicy you like it.
You can make a delicious soy sauce dip out of this, use it for dumplings, ramen, gyoza, you name it!
If you end up making this, please report back what you ate with. I’d love to know.
Warmly,
