Having been trained in European food, I tend to cook mostly Asian meals at home. Since we've been home all these months, you can imagine how many Asian meals have come out of my kitchen, possibly hundreds! Even though regional Asian cooking, whether it's regions of China or Malaysian heartland or Indonesian beachscapes, everything can be done from scratch given that ingredients are so easily accessible now but there are some things that are sacrosanct and it's best to find the perfect vendor for them. For me those ingredients include Malayian Sambal, Chiu Chow style Chilli Oil and Thai cooking pastes. In my pursuit of perfect Asian meals, I've found amazing home cooks who make all these products and that too, perfectly.
Meet Insta Star cook, Raman Okram, who I chanced upon when my chef friends started following him on Instagram. Raman cooks stellar meals and makes spiffy videos that are so enticing, you will want to cook everything he makes (I certainly have). He's also amazingly generous with his ideas and recipes, putting them out for the world to try. A self-taught cook, Raman watched his mother and grandmother cook with occasional participation from him which was the foundation of his culinary passion. Having schooled at Scindia, he missed home food tremendously and spent more time in the kitchen than the classroom during his Grad school days. Though he cooks all kinds of dishes, he’s particularly fond of Pan Asian food, where Chilli Oils are a staple, both as a condiment and as an ingredient. After receiving tons of messages on Instagram he decided to come up with ‘RamanO’s chilli oil’ and make it available to people as the perfect spicy companion for all their meals. He came up with a simple recipe at first that not only brings the heat but also a rich flavour and labelled it as ‘Classic chill oil’ since it is really close to the traditional Chinese recipes. Then he created the OG chilli oil which is his original recipe. It goes perfectly with every type of cuisine. That wasn’t all, he wanted a third chilli oil to be a level apart from the other two so he came up with the ‘Black bean chilli oil’. It is different from everyday chili oils but it is a magnificent, umami-rich concoction packed with preserved black soybeans, an array of aromatics and spices. It goes perfectly well with all types of Asian dishes and any sort of rice dishes too. The latest addition is the ‘Fiery OG’ which is the spiciest of all.
The USP of chilli oils is their versatility, whether you want to liven up a bowl of regular noods or add a punch to fried rice, even if it's just sauteed vegetables that need a kick, apart from being a dipping sauce for everything from Dimsum to Tempura, it is really up to you how you want to use these. For now you can order these from his Instagram page, don't forget to follow him for easy and delicious recipes, he ships across the country and is planning a website soon too!
Meet Insta Star cook, Raman Okram, who I chanced upon when my chef friends started following him on Instagram. Raman cooks stellar meals and makes spiffy videos that are so enticing, you will want to cook everything he makes (I certainly have). He's also amazingly generous with his ideas and recipes, putting them out for the world to try. A self-taught cook, Raman watched his mother and grandmother cook with occasional participation from him which was the foundation of his culinary passion. Having schooled at Scindia, he missed home food tremendously and spent more time in the kitchen than the classroom during his Grad school days. Though he cooks all kinds of dishes, he’s particularly fond of Pan Asian food, where Chilli Oils are a staple, both as a condiment and as an ingredient. After receiving tons of messages on Instagram he decided to come up with ‘RamanO’s chilli oil’ and make it available to people as the perfect spicy companion for all their meals. He came up with a simple recipe at first that not only brings the heat but also a rich flavour and labelled it as ‘Classic chill oil’ since it is really close to the traditional Chinese recipes. Then he created the OG chilli oil which is his original recipe. It goes perfectly with every type of cuisine. That wasn’t all, he wanted a third chilli oil to be a level apart from the other two so he came up with the ‘Black bean chilli oil’. It is different from everyday chili oils but it is a magnificent, umami-rich concoction packed with preserved black soybeans, an array of aromatics and spices. It goes perfectly well with all types of Asian dishes and any sort of rice dishes too. The latest addition is the ‘Fiery OG’ which is the spiciest of all.
The USP of chilli oils is their versatility, whether you want to liven up a bowl of regular noods or add a punch to fried rice, even if it's just sauteed vegetables that need a kick, apart from being a dipping sauce for everything from Dimsum to Tempura, it is really up to you how you want to use these. For now you can order these from his Instagram page, don't forget to follow him for easy and delicious recipes, he ships across the country and is planning a website soon too!