BIRD'S EYE CHILIS

The bird's eye chili plant is a perennial with small, tapering fruits, often two or three, at a node. The fruits are very pungent.

The bird's eye chili is small, but is quite hot (piquant). It measures around 50,000 - 100,000 Scoville units, which is at the lower half of the range for the hotter habanero, but still much hotter than a common jalapeño.

Here is a recipe for homemade bird’s eye chilli oil.

• 1 cup canola oil – or any neutral oil such as peanut oil, though yes, you CAN use Olive Oil.
• 3 tablespoons crushed dried peppers 
• Dash of salt if desired

Next, add the oil, dried peppers and salt (if using) to a small pot and stir. Heat to medium-low heat and stir often for about 5 minutes.

Do not allow the oil to smoke. If it smokes, remove it from the heat to reduce the temperature. The goal is not to boil the oil, but to slowly simmer it, allowing the flavours of the peppers to infuse it.

After 5 minutes, remove from heat and cool to room temperature. You can simmer longer to infuse even more flavour. Pour it into a bottle or jar and seal it. You can strain it if you’d like.

Refrigerate and use within a month.