Hongyou Wei Archives • The Mala Market

Sichuan’s fùhé wèi (复合味) are a collection of more than 20 classic flavors and flavor combinations that form the base of many of the province’s dishes. This page explores hóngyóu wèi (红油味) and the recipes that feature it. Other fuhe wei can be found through the menu above.

Chili oils made with hot oil and ground chilies have been a staple of Sichuan cuisine for well over a century. In Sichuan, chili oil is known by a few names: hóngyóu (红油, literally red oil), làjiāo yóu (辣椒油, chili pepper oil), or shúyóu hǎijiāo (熟油海椒, “cooked oil over chili flakes”). Alongside doubanjiang and Sichuan pepper, this ingredient is one of the most ubiquitous and defining elements of the Sichuan pantry. Used daily in both home and restaurant kitchens, it also anchors an entire fuhe wei category known as “chili oil flavor” or hóngyóu wèi (红油味).

Chili peppers arrived in Sichuan around the 16th and 17th centuries, though it is hard to pin down exactly when chili oil itself became a kitchen staple. It was certainly well-established by the start of the 20th century. In Fu Chongju’s book A Comprehensive Chronicle of Chengdu (Chéngdū Tōngjiàn, 成都通鉴), published around 1910, chili oil is listed alongside soy sauce and vinegar as an essential Chengdu pantry item (referred to in the text as “hot oil chili pepper” rèyóu hǎijiāo, 热油海椒). Today, chili oil is a staple across the province, drizzled over cold appetizers, noodles, dumplings, wontons and street snacks.

As the name suggests, hongyou wei is built around chili oil, but the flavor profile isn’t just about this one ingredient; in pretty much all hongyou wei dishes, the heat and toasted flavors are also balanced by a combination of soy sauce, sugar and salt. This mixture of ingredients is most commonly used as a dressing for liángcài (凉菜), the cold or room-temperature appetizers that kick off a meal. Classic examples include cold-dressed chicken (hóngyóu jīkuài, 红油鸡块) and pork ears (hóngyóu ěrpiàn, 红油耳片).

While hongyou wei can look similar to mala wei (the spicy-tingly flavor profile that uses chilies and Sichuan pepper), hongyou is milder, less spicy and sweeter. It usually omits Sichuan pepper entirely though some dishes use just a touch. That said, the lines between the two flavor profiles can blur, and dishes like cold-dressed chicken can be prepared as either a hongyou dish or a mala dish.

The Base Ingredients of Hongyou Wei

Hongyou wei is described as “spicy, fragrant, salty, umami, with a sweet aftertaste” (咸鲜辣香, 回味略甜) and is built from a few classic Sichuan ingredients:

Core ingredients: chili oil, soy sauce, sugar, salt

Frequent ingredients: black vinegar, sesame oil, stock, msg

The base ingredients, along with any added flavorings, are whisked into a smooth dressing that is a glossy red, highly fragrant and only moderately spicy. For chicken dishes, a splash of cold stock is sometimes also added to the sauce to thin it out so that it coats all the elements of the dish evenly.

The heart of this flavor combination is, of course, Sichuan chili oil, so to make hongyou wei dishes you first have to make or buy this classic ingredient. Most chefs and home cooks in Sichuan make their own by simply pouring hot oil onto lightly toasted, pounded dried chilies and letting the mixture steep overnight (or for a few days) to develop flavor.

People generally use local chili varieties like er jing tiao or lantern chilies to make this oil; these varieties are intensely aromatic but have a relatively mild heat, so the oil they produce gives the dish a rich fragrance and a deep red color without overpowering the other ingredients. As a result, the dishes can taste far less intimidating than their fiery appearances suggest, even if the ingredients are practically submerged in red oil.

Traditional Sichuan chili oil contains much more oil than sediment, usually a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio of oil to ground chilies by weight. Many cooks also use traditional càizǐyóu (toasted rapeseed oil) instead of milder oils; it gives the finished chili oil a dark amber hue and a richer, toastier aroma. Because it is thicker and richer than most neutral oils, caiziyou also helps the dressing cling to the rest of the ingredients.

To add extra flavor, many cooks also fry aromatics and spices in the oil before straining it over the chilies (removing the aromatic sediment while leaving the flavor). Common additions include scallion, red onion, ginger, star anise, cinnamon and/or bay leaf. The result is sometimes known as aromatic red oil (xiānglà hóngyóu, 香辣红油). Together, the oil (infused or not) and the chilies create a ruby-red oil that brings color, gentle heat and deep fragrance to any dish it is added to.

Classic Hongyou Wei Dishes

The hongyou wei flavor profile is most often used in cold dishes, on everything from meat to tofu to crisp vegetables. You’lll also find it on street food such as wontons and dumplings. In all cases, the ingredients for the sauce are mixed together and then drizzled directly over the dish.

For meat-based cold dishes, the protein is typically poached or braised until tender then cooled, cut into pieces or slices and dressed with the sauce.
- Popular examples of this style include sliced pork ears (hóngyóu ěrpiàn, 红油耳片), beef tripe slivers (hóngyóu niúdǔsī, 红油牛肚丝) and bone-in chicken pieces (hóngyóu jīkuaì, 红油鸡块). Sliced and shredded chicken dishes—hóngyóu jīpiàn (红油鸡片) and hóngyóu jīsī (红油鸡丝), respectively—are also popular.

For cold vegetable and tofu dishes, the salad-like ingredients are usually cut into thin slices or slivers then quickly blanched or salted so that they stay crisp after they’re dressed.
- Popular dishes include red oil three-slivers (hóngyóu sānsī, 红油三丝), shredded bamboo shoots (hóngyóu sǔnsī,红油笋丝) and firm, seasoned or pressed tofu (hóngyóu dòugān, 红油豆干).

Dumplings and similar warm dishes are boiled and then drizzled with the sauce while hot.
- Popular dishes include chili oil wontons (hóngyóu chāoshǒu, 红油抄手) and dumplings in chili oil (hóngyóu shuǐjiǎo, 红油水饺), also known as Zhong dumplings.

The hongyou flavor profile is often featured in famous Sichuan street foods. Popular items include the wontons and dumplings mentioned above as well as scraped jelly noodles (chuānběi liángfěn, 川北凉粉) and cold skewered meats (bóbó jī, 钵钵鸡). Depending on how much garlic or Sichuan pepper a vendor adds, these often sit in the delicious, ambiguous space between the hóngyóu, málà (hot-numbing) and suànní (garlic) flavor profiles.

Fuhu wei category photos and text compiled in collaboration with Xueci Cheng