Last modified: Sat Mar 5 13:14:34 EST 2022
This is not as hot as the hot oil you can buy, but it has more flavor.
Pour slightly more than the needed amount of oil into a pot. Tear dried chiles in half or chop them into large pieces so that the oil can get inside of them. Add them to the oil (seeds and all) and keep going until there's no room for any more. Simmer the chiles on medium heat until they are fried to a dark color but not burned. Remove the pot from heat and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Put a funnel in the top of an oil bottle. Hold a strainer over the funnel and pour the mixture through it.
(If you stuff the chiles into the oil bottle, you might have trouble getting them back out.)