[elderlybanana]

My favorite chili oils take the chilis just beyond a perfect maillard "sear" and venture very slightly into burnt territory. Many peppers have a natural bitterness when dried, and that slight bitterness added from the barely burned flavor brings out some extra, magical, umami depth. Adding some acidic elements makes for some incredible dishes.

I have found that smoked chilis lose their smokiness with high heat though. I wonder if doing a lower heat extraction might retain those smoky flavors. Sounds like the multiple extraction/blend the author talked about would be worth a shot to get both.

[mortureb]

I agree. Indian cooking uses a lot of flavored oil as “tadkas”. Spices (cumin, coriander, garlic, mustard etc.) including whole red chillies are brought up to temp in a small metal bowl with ghee over a flame and then added to the final dish.

I’ve made chili oil this way and it seems to draw out more flavor and there’s the slight burnt flavor that I love.

[hardwaregeek]

I've learned from cooking more Indian food recently that it's okay to burn spices a little. In most cuisines you're told to only bloom spices briefly but Indian food isn't afraid to really cook spices to their limit.