chili oil
A Chinese-style condiment made by infusing oil with chili peppers and other aromatics; commonly used in Japanese interpretations of Chinese dishes like tantanmen and gyoza.
from Chinese làyóu
Adding a few drops of chili oil to the gyoza dipping sauce enhances the flavor.
The spiciness of the chili oil, essential for tantanmen, whets the appetite.
Standard Japanese spelling using katakana for the loanword portion and the kanji 油 for 'oil'.
Kanji spelling using the Chinese character 辣 (spicy); less common in Japanese and may not be recognized by all readers.
Borrowed from Chinese 辣油 (làyóu), literally 'spicy oil'. The Japanese form ラー油 combines the katakana rendering of the Chinese reading with the kanji 油.