Some jars are condiments. Keating & Co chunky chilli oil is an entire dinner strategy — all crunchy bits and slow-building warmth, engineered to turn plain carbohydrates into something you crave at 9 pm. Here are the two fastest ways we know to prove it.

Dinner one is noodles: the sauce gets mixed in the bottom of the serving bowl, and nothing is cooked beyond boiling water. Dinner two is even less work — eggs fried in the chilli oil itself until the edges frill and crisp, slid over rice. Both take about ten minutes. Neither produces leftovers.

What you need

200 g dried wheat noodles (or 2 bundles of ramen)
3 tbsp chunky chilli oil, plus extra for the eggs
1½ tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar (or Chinese black vinegar, if you have it)
1 tsp sugar
2 spring onions, finely sliced
For the fried-egg dinner: 2 eggs, steamed rice and a splash of soy

Method

Cook the noodles in boiling water according to the packet, and reserve a splash of the cooking water before draining.
Meanwhile, mix the chilli oil, soy, vinegar and sugar in the bottom of your serving bowl.
Drag the hot noodles straight into the bowl with a splash of noodle water and toss hard until every strand is glossy and coated.
Shower with spring onions and eat immediately, ideally standing at the bench.
For the fried-egg version: heat a big spoonful of chilli oil in a pan over medium-high heat, crack in the eggs and fry until the whites frill and crisp at the edges while the yolks stay soft.
Slide the eggs over steamed rice, add a splash of soy and another spoonful of crunchy bits from the jar. Dinner two, done.

Upgrades, if you must: a fried egg on the noodles turns dinner one into dinner one-and-a-half, a spoonful of peanut butter whisked into the sauce makes it silkier and vaguely dan dan, and a handful of blanched greens tossed through at the end lets you claim vegetables were involved. One more thing — the crunchy sediment at the bottom of the jar is the good stuff. Dig for it.

The jar will not last the month — the condiments shelf restocks you, and Keating’s tandoori paste is quietly holding the answer to tomorrow night as well.