Author: Kathy Yuan

How to Cook With Doubanjiang / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Pork / Restaurant Classics

Pressure Cooker Sichuan Rice-Steamed Pork Ribs (Fenzhengrou, 粉蒸肉)

Taste of Lunar New Year~~ Across South-Central China, just about every province cooks up some version of 粉蒸肉 (fěnzhēngròu), rice-steamed pork. In fenzhengrou, a special toasted rice powder coats the marinated pork before steaming and soaks up all the juices during. Despite originating in Jiangxi, Sichuan-style fenzhengrou with its Pixian doubanjiang base is arguably the most popular version today. Case in point: The China Cuisine Association named fenzhengrou one of Chongqing’s top 10 famous dishes and China’s 340 regional classic dishes in September 2018. Fenzheng dishes encompass rice-steamed beef, pork belly...

white dish with stirfried cabbage piled high

Plant

Sichuan Hand-Torn Cabbage Stir-Fry (Shousi Baicai, 手撕白菜)

Cabbage and Huajiao, Happily Ever After~~ This Sichuan Hand-Torn Cabbage Stir-Fry is a homestyle classic beloved in and out of Sichuan. It’s cheap, vegetarian, comes together in minutes and requires no special ingredients outside of a standard Chinese pantry. Plus, keep reading for an easy way to elevate this cabbage stir-fry into a Sichuan pepper (花椒, huājiāo) tasting experience! Cabbage gets a bad rap in the U.S., but Chinese people love cabbage. We even have an idiom extolling its virtues—百菜不如白菜 (bǎi cài bùrú báicài), meaning “a hundred vegetables are not...

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Sichuan Braised Chicken with Chestnut + Shiitake (Banli Shaoji, 板栗烧鸡)

Cooking With Pixian Doubanjiang~~ Sichuan braised chicken with chestnut and shiitake (板栗烧鸡, bǎnlì shāojī) in a dutch oven requires minimal babysitting for maximum flavor. Ma’s side of the family prepares shaoji with whole chicken and traditional taro obbligato, but this recipe combines bone-in chicken legs, roasted chestnuts and dried shiitake with the usual Pixian hongyou douban for everyday shaoji (within the hour!). The fact that we now call this dish “everyday” says it all. One godless fall day in her early youth, Mala Mama and her two older brothers were...

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Cooking with Pixian Doubanjiang: Erjie Tuding (二姐兔丁) Second Sister Rabbit Cubes

A Chengdu Hawker Original~~ Chengdu’s famous Erjie Tuding is based off a Sichuan 凉拌 (liángbàn)/cold-dressed dish traditionally eaten in the fall. It belongs to our reader-favorite Cooking with Pixian Doubanjiang recipe series, which highlights Sichuan doubanjiang cooking methods that are less well-known than classics like Mapo Doufu and Twice-Cooked Pork. If you’ve never thought of using doubanjiang in a cold dish, this is your sign!  There are several variations of Sichuan’s cold-dressed rabbit (凉拌兔丁, liángbàn tùdīng; also 麻辣兔丁, málà tùdīng), but the most famous is Chengdu’s 二姐兔丁 (èrjiě tùdīng), “Second Sister Rabbit Cubes.”...

aromatic chili oil in glass sealed jar

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Aromatic Sichuan Chili Oil (Xiangla Hongyou, 香辣红油)

Lajiaoyou the Mainland Sichuan Way, ft. Caiziyou (Pt. 2)~~ Picture this: It’s Fall 2021 and you’re making your own aromatic Sichuan chili oil at home, ready to shovel down yesterday’s leftovers with an onslaught of 红油 (hóngyóu), literally “red oil,” straight from the (gorgeous! reusable! glass!) jar. The Mala Market’s 菜籽油 (càizǐyóu)/roasted rapeseed oil is in stock, Adele just dropped her six-year-comeback divorce album, Seasonal Affective Disorder has yet to creep in, and now your hongyou chaoshou game has never been better. Life is good. The first whiffs of five-spice...

Plant

Sichuan Hot and Sour Shredded Potato (Suanla Tudousi, 酸辣土豆丝)

Weeknight Shredded Potato There comes a time in every potato’s life when it graduates out of the larder to emerge peeled, quartered, cubed, sliced, hasselbacked, mashed, puréed, you name it. In China, you’ll also find Sichuan Hot and Sour Shredded Potato (酸辣土豆丝, suānlà tǔdòusī), a stir-fry mainstay in restaurants and homes. Though shredding is a common Chinese potato treatment, it remains a niche cut in the U.S., favored only for its breakfast potential. Yes, tudousi’s closest living ‘Murican relative is the griddle-fried shredded potato hash brown at your favorite old-school...

Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan) / Vegetarian

Sichuan’s Pickled Chili Crisp (Zhalajiao, 渣辣椒)

      Taste of the Sichuan Countryside This recipe for 渣辣椒 (zhālàjiāo), or 渣海椒 (zhāhǎijiāo) in some areas, was a long time coming to our family dining table here in the United States. An all-purpose seasoning of fermented chili in cornmeal, zhalajiao (or “pickled chili crisp” as I’m calling it in English) can be stir-fried or steamed with any dish—and when pan-fried alone, the crispy accompaniment dresses up everything from plain white rice to 回锅肉 (huíguōròu). Mala Mama last tasted this traditional Sichuan dish in 1988, when my dad’s...

Baked Niangao

Chinese New Year / Dessert / Plant

Baked Niangao (年糕) Sticky Rice Cake

The Good Luck Cake Baked niangao: king of kings, the rice cake to end all rice cakes. O blonde mochi brownie, symbol of growth and prosperity, equalizer among Asian aunties. This is no lifeless Quaker rice cracker, nor even the stir-fried Chinese sticky rice cake by the same name. Baked niangao is traditional steamed 年糕 (niángāo)—soft, springy, sweet glutinous rice flour dessert—restyled. An auspicious Lunar New Year specialty and year-round treat now prepared with a fraction of the effort thanks to that staple of Western kitchens, the oven. Make it...

Dessert / Plant / Soups & Stews

Snow Fungus Jujube Dessert Soup (Yin’er Tang, 银耳汤)

Refreshing Summer Dessert~~ This version of 银耳汤 (yín’ěr tāng), or snow fungus jujube dessert soup as we’ll call it, is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) quadruple threat. Yin’er tang is often served after banquet meals, and it’s a frequent staple in our Chinese home. Moreover, with high quality jujubes as a natural sweetener, we rarely end up adding extra sugar. Better yet, it transitions seamlessly between the hottest and coldest of days. In the winter, yin’er tang is nourishing and delicious eaten warm straight from the pot. Then, once summer arrives,...

from overhead blue porcelain plate filled with liangban carrot daikon salad and garnished with fresh cilantro against a black backdrop

Plant

Spicy Daikon Carrot Salad (Liangban, 凉拌)

Our Favorite No-Cook Side~~ In cooler months, they’re sweetest, and in warmer months, they’re cooling—we enjoy radish and carrot year-round in this spicy daikon carrot salad, more traditionally known as a 凉拌 (liángbàn) or “cold-dressed” dish. Slivers of these bright root vegetables spring from their whole form into shredded strips like nonchalant supper party confetti. It’s any host’s low-maintenance sidekick: two-step prep, no stove or oven space required, unfussy if you leave it unattended for several hours before serving. A dressing cocktail elevated by Mala Mama’s authentic Sichuan Chili Oil (ft. caiziyou!)...

Bao & Dumplings / Pork / Restaurant Classics / Soups & Stews / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Chili Oil Wontons (Hongyou Chaoshou, 红油抄手)

A Taste of Childhood These Sichuan Chili Oil Wontons (红油抄手, hóngyóu chāoshǒu) take us back to slurping down a bowl of chaoshou at our fave Chongzhou noodle shop. For authentic texture and hometown flavor, traditional technique is everything. Whether you know them as everyday 馄饨 (húntún), Sichuan 抄手 (chāoshǒu), or Cantonese-derived wontons, these soup-friendly meat parcels are a hole-in-the-wall mainstay. Unlike 饺子 (jiǎozi) or 水饺 (shuǐjiǎo), aka boiled dumplings, chaoshou are served “wet” in bowls of broth or, in this case, hongyou dressing. Moreover, the delicate, crossed wrappers trap sauce by...

a white porcelain jar with chili oil in it with a metal spoonful of the chili oil and a bottle of caiziyou oil in the background

How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Dried Chilies / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Chili Oil Recipe ft. Caiziyou (Lajiaoyou, 辣椒油)

Lajiaoyou the Mainland Sichuan Way, ft. Caiziyou When it comes to this Sichuan chili oil recipe, variations abound—but all share three core factors: chilis, oil and heat. Lately, the stateside popularity of dressed up chili oil (make it crispy! with aromatics! with douchi!) has soared. But throw in middling chilis, the sundry tasteless oils available outside of China, and a flimsy grasp of temperature control? Some of that chili oil’s more dressed down than up. So if you’ve wondered why your chili oil doesn’t seem that spicy, or how to...