Sichuan Mala Spice
The Quirky Foodster Team
About 1 cup dry mix, or 2 cups wet cooking base with doubanjiang included
Servings
Ingredients
- Dried chile (often several varieties combined)
- Sichuan pepper
- garlic
- ginger
- and doubanjiang (fermented broad bean-chile paste) as the wet cooking base; a dry version omits the doubanjiang
Method
- Toast the dried chile and Sichuan pepper together in oil to create a fragrant, spice-infused cooking oil, which forms the base for mala dishes.
- Essential — the chile and Sichuan pepper are typically bloomed in hot oil rather than dry-toasted, a technique distinguishing this from most other blends in this reference.
Origin: Sichuan, China — the defining flavor base of Sichuan cuisine’s ‘numbing-and-hot’ tradition.
Use: The foundational flavor base for mala hot pot and various Sichuan stir-fries and braises.
Classic Dishes: Mala hot pot; mapo tofu; dan dan noodles.
Storage: The infused mala oil keeps several weeks refrigerated; the dry spice component alone keeps 6 months to a year sealed.
Variations: Countless restaurant and regional formulations exist, varying considerably in the specific chile-to-Sichuan-pepper ratio and the inclusion of additional aromatics like star anise or cinnamon.
Substitutions: No close substitute given the essential, unique numbing quality of Sichuan pepper.
- Dried chile (often several varieties combined)
- Sichuan pepper
- garlic
- ginger
- and doubanjiang (fermented broad bean-chile paste) as the wet cooking base; a dry version omits the doubanjiang
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