Category: Restaurant Classics

Sichuan pao cai naturally fermented pickles

Cold Dishes / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan) / Vegetarian

Sichuan Lacto-Fermented Pickles (Paocai, 泡菜): Starting Your First Batch

Part 1: Making Pickles the Sichuan Way This paocai guide, originally published in September 2017, was updated in August 2021 with new photos and more guidance as we launched the mouth-blown Chinese pickle jar pictured above at The Mala Market. We continued to perfect the recipe and method and revised it again in September 2023 when we debuted the larger, ceramic paocai jars we had custom made in China.  This is part one of our guide to making pickles the Sichuan way, and it focuses on starting your first batch....

Hongyou chaoshou

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 / Plant / 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...

yunnan mushroom hot pot

Chinese New Year / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / Non-Spicy / Plant / Poultry / Restaurant Classics / Soups & Stews / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

No Sweet Sour: Yunnan Mushroom Hotpot (Huoguo, 火锅)

Wild Mushroom Heaven I was so thrilled when I received the gorgeous handmade brass hotpot from The Mala Market. Finally, I could prepare a proper Yunnan mushroom hotpot in Norway! I love hotpot (火锅, huǒguō) not only because it is a fun way to cook food, but also because hotpot brings to mind a warm sense of social gathering. Whenever I meet old friends back in Kunming, we often share a hotpot meal while catching up with each other. Hotpot varies depending on the different geographic regions of China. In...

Little Crispy Pork (Xiao Su Rou)

Chinese New Year / How to Cook With Huajiao / Non-Spicy / Pork / Restaurant Classics / Sichuan Pantry Compatible / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Pepper-Studded Little Crispy Pork (Xiaosurou, 小酥肉)

Pork Meets Dipping Chilies~~ This dish called xiaosurou, or little crispy pork, is deep-fried fatty pork studded with plenty of numbing Sichuan pepper. It is a starter or a snack—rich,  numbing and spicy—and you will not want to eat it as a meal. Well, you may actually want to, but you probably shouldn’t. The last two times I’ve had hotpot in Chengdu—both times with locals who were in the food biz—they both ordered xiaosurou as a starter for eating while the pot is heating up. That’s smart, because it can...

Chinese New Year / How to Cook With Doubanjiang / How to Cook With Dried Chilies / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / How to Cook With Tianmianjiang / Plant / Pork / Restaurant Classics / Sichuan Pantry Compatible / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Cured Pork Belly Stir-fry (Chao Larou, 炒腊肉)

Once-Cooked Pork, Revisited This pork belly stir-fry pays homage to an old series on the blog, Cooking with Pixian Doubanjiang. Longtime readers may notice the similarity to “once-cooked pork” in Sichuan bean sauces. While that used bacon as a stand-in for Chinese cured pork belly (腊肉, làròu), this features the real deal—if you missed it, big news! Kathy has been teaching readers how to make their own Sichuan wind-cured pork belly. Last month, we presented seven ways to smoke, boil, steam and stir-fry the finished product. Now, we’re bringing you the eighth way....

Sichuan la rou

Chinese New Year / How to Cook With Douchi / Non-Spicy / Pork / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Wind-Cured Pork Belly (Larou, 腊肉), Part 2: Smoking + Cooking

The Definitive Guide to Smoking and Cooking Larou This is a continuation of Sichuan Wind-Cured Pork Belly (Larou, 腊肉), Part 1. The previous post covers selecting, brining and air-drying this traditional cured meat and Spring Festival staple. Part 2 covers how to cook and eat your larou no matter whether you smoke, boil, steam or stir-fry!  Earlier this month I delivered a lot of words and a single recipe. All for the promise of juicy, resplendent pork belly, just like my mama’s mama’s mama used to make it. This time around...

Suanla mian

How to Cook With Chinese Black Vinegar / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / Noodles / Pork / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

No Sweet Sour: Kunming Sour and Spicy Noodles (Suanlamian, 酸辣面)

Karaoke Noodles Unlike our recipe for Sichuan-style sour and spicy noodles, which features sweet potato glass noodles topped with a fried egg, this suanlamian noodle soup from Yunnan is made with wheat noodles. Not only does Michelle’s recipe produce a gorgeous bowl of noodles, it also includes an ingenious method of cooking the noodles and a bonus recipe for spiced pork tenderloin to be used as a noodle topping or served on its own as a cold (side) dish.~~Taylor Text and photos by Michelle Zhao I can’t think of anything...

Sichuan mala hot pot with beef tallow

Beef, Lamb & Game / Chinese New Year / Fish & Seafood / How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / How to Cook With Doubanjiang / How to Cook With Douchi / How to Cook With Dried Chilies / How to Cook With Huajiao / How to Cook With Shaoxing Wine / Plant / Restaurant Classics / Soups & Stews / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Sichuan Mala Hotpot, From Scratch (Mala Huoguo with Tallow Broth)

Hotpot Party at Your House Although this recipe for mala hotpot first published in early 2018 is the most popular recipe on our entire blog, we have revised and updated it as of November 2020. Why? Well, when I first developed it, there weren’t many recipes for Sichuan hotpot online in English—and none at all, that I could find, that included beef fat (tallow), a style of hotpot broth widely loved in Chongqing and Chengdu. There probably were Chinese-language online videos and recipes for it, but they were less accessible...

Yunnan Liang Mixian (Cold Rice Noodles)

Cold Dishes / How to Cook With Sesame / Noodles / Plant / Poultry / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

No Sweet Sour: Yunnan Liang Mixian (Cold Rice Noodles, 凉米线)

Pretend You’re South of the Clouds Here’s a recipe for Chinese cold rice noodles from the land where they do liang mixian best, plus a trick for making dried rice noodles taste like the thick, bouncy fresh ones of Yunnan. Text and photos by Michelle Zhao Cold rice noodles (凉米线, liáng mǐxiàn) is a summer dish that Yunnan people are especially fond of. Every city has its own style of liang mixian, but my top three are from Yuxi, Dali and Kunming. The distinguishing characteristic of Yuxi cold rice noodles is...

Yibin Ran Mian

How to Cook With Caiziyou / How to Cook With Chinese Spices / How to Cook With Dried Chilies / How to Cook With Yacai / Noodles / Plant / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan)

Yibin Ranmian, 燃面 (Burning Noodles From Yibin, Sichuan)

Noodles via Chinese Cooking Demystified I am so happy to report that I have finally conquered Yibin ranmian (燃面, ránmiàn), a noodle I’ve been longing for and one of the best noodles you have probably never heard of. I’ve been promising to develop this recipe for many years, ever since the first time I had Yibian ranmian in Chengdu. It was 2014, but I remember it like it was yesterday. We (Craig, Fongchong and I) had just eaten a full meal at a famous restaurant that we had nonetheless found...

suan la fen

How to Cook With Chinese Black Vinegar / How to Cook With Huajiao / How to Cook With Soy Sauce / Noodles / Restaurant Classics / Southwest (Sichuan, Yunnan) / Vegetarian

Chongqing Suanlafen (酸辣粉) Sour and Spicy Sweet Potato Noodles

Lameizi’s Noodles: A Spicy Girl Graduates Suanlafen, or sour and spicy soup with sweet potato noodles, always makes me think of Fongchong. We share a belief that spicy and sour, in that order, are the two best tastes, and nothing embodies those tastes better than suanlafen. Not only is it my daughter’s go-to soup in Sichuan restaurants, but one particular memory of her having it in her homeland always makes me smile, reminding me that my spicy girl (lameizi, as they’re known in Sichuan) knows her own mind and will always...