Ingredients in Wok Oil

Our answer

Nigella uses a seasoned oil known as "wok oil" in her book and TV show Nigella Express, mostly in stir fries. Wok oil is a base of sunflower oil (as it is good for high heat cooking) plus a little toasted sesame oil and extracts of ginger and garlic. In the UK you can buy it from Waitrose and Ocado.

Unfortunately we would not recommend making your own wok oil as leaving garlic in oil for any length of time carries some risk of food poisoning. Instead we would suggest that you flavour your oil with aromatics just before cooking. For each tablespoon of sunflower oil (or other unflavoured vegetable oil) add 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger and half a clove of garlic that has been crushed or minced. Let this mixture sizzle together in the hot wok for a few seconds before beginning to cook.