How to use chili oil every day

Cook wheat noodles or spaghetti, drain them, and toss them hot with a spoonful of chili oil, a splash of soy sauce and a little rice or black vinegar. Scallions and a fried egg turn it into dinner. The vinegar keeps the oil from tasting heavy, so add it even if you think you do not need it.

Stir from the bottom of the jar for chili oil noodles. The oil on top carries color, and the solids below carry the chili and aromatics.

For chili oil ramen, cook the noodles and broth as usual, then spoon the oil over the top right before you eat rather than into the pot. Added last, it sits on the surface and every bite picks some up. Lahtt's own story starts here: the founder's father, head chef of the first dim sum restaurant in California's South Bay, first made the sauce in a wok to top a classic noodle soup.

Spoon a little chili oil into a skillet over medium heat and crack the eggs straight into it. The whites crisp in the oil and pick up its color. Keep the heat moderate, because chili solids scorch quickly in a very hot pan.

Cook the eggs until the white is set and the yolk is as firm as you like it. The FDA's advice is to cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm, which matters most when you cook for young children, older adults or anyone pregnant.

Warm leftover rice, add a soft scrambled or fried egg, drizzle on chili oil and finish with a seasoning for crunch. Vesta Kitchen's Brand New Funk furikake ($10.00, 2.5 oz) from Pottstown, PA, lists bonito flakes, sesame, nori, almond, fermented chile powder and salt.

That ingredient list matters if you cook for someone vegan or allergic. Bonito is a fish, almond is a tree nut and sesame is a major allergen, so the furikake is not a vegan topping even when the chili oil is.

Stir together roughly equal parts soy sauce and black vinegar, then add chili oil to taste, starting with a teaspoon. A pinch of sugar or a little minced garlic is optional. Spoon it over boiled dumplings or wontons, or serve it on the side with potstickers fresh from the pan.

Once dumplings are on a party table, the FDA's 2-hour rule applies: discard cooked perishables left out longer than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F.

For guests who want less heat, swirl chili oil into plain yogurt, sour cream or mayonnaise. Wikipedia notes a similar idea in Turkish cooking, where chili-infused oil is poured over the garlic yogurt sauce on manti dumplings. The creamy base carries the flavor while the dairy softens the burn.

Want a ready-made option beside the chili oil? LocalCart's shelf of small-batch sauces includes Caulfield Provision Company's #68 Szechuan Style Red Pepper Sauce ($6.50) from Potomac, MD, which the maker suggests for stir-fry, beef or pork and as a marinade.

Whisk chili oil with soy sauce, a little sugar and grated ginger, and use it to marinate tofu, chicken or vegetables before a stir-fry. Marinate in the refrigerator, not on the counter, and do not reuse marinade from raw meat unless you boil it first, as the FDA advises.

In a stir-fry, add a spoonful near the end so the chili solids do not burn in a very hot wok.

Treat chili oil like a finishing olive oil. A thin drizzle wakes up cheese pizza, avocado toast, roasted cauliflower or a bowl of white beans. Italian cooks do the same with olio di peperoncino, Wikipedia notes, adding it to sauces, salads, cheeses and antipasto.