A Simple But Fiery Condiment From China’s Heartland

Named for the physical dicing action (剁, duò) you use to cut up the chilies, 剁椒 duòjiāo, literally “diced peppers,” are pickled chilies traditionally made from Hunan’s fresh, thin-skinned, typically red peppers. Pickling preserves the chilies’ sun-ripened redness for longer-term cooking, and the lacto-fermenting process results in a sour-and-spicy flavor beloved in Hunan. 

Diced and salt-pickled duojiao chilies are to Hunan what douban paste is to Sichuan. Although there are many similarities between neighboring Sichuan and Hunan provinces, overall, Hunan food runs hotter and drier (干辣, gānlà). It also lacks huajiao, Sichuan’s indigenous “pepper,” which contributes the numbing factor to Sichuan’s signature 麻辣 (málà) flavor. 

Ganla Hunan gastronomy lends itself toward hot, smoky, sour and intense taste profiles. Blistering heat is the defining characteristic of the bouquets of chilies that arrive to the wok whole or chopped, fresh or dried, pickled or not—anything short of paste. Comparatively, mala Sichuan cooking employs oil, sauces, broths and dressings to meld chilies together in a “wetter” more balanced orchestra of flavors. Chairman Mao Zedong, Hunan-born, was famous for claiming fiery chilies were for true revolutionaries: Anyone who couldn’t endure the heat would be too weak for the battlefield of the revolution. 

One geographical explanation for Hunan’s preference for chili-laden dishes comes from its humid, subtropical surroundings: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) supports the consumption of hot chilies to remove dampness and cold. In wet, mountainous, south-central Hunan, the population eats chilies year-round to fight both clammy, cool winters and hot, humid summers. Sweating while eating these foods also helps mediate body temperature. (Sichuan and Chongqing, neighbors in the unforgiving monsoonal climate, embrace chilies year-round for the same reason.) 

Hunan’s lacto-fermented chopped chilies add sour heat by the spoonful to stir-fries and steamed dishes. Duojiao is also a popular condiment for plain rice and whatever else you want. The most famous duojiao dish of all is a massive carp head, steamed upright, in a storm of garlic, ginger and pickled chilies (剁椒鱼头, duòjiāo yútóu). The fancier restaurants will use fresh garlic and ginger, but at home, many cooks mix the aromatics in with the chilies when they pickle them (see below for details). Across 2,100+ years and 4,000+ dishes of culinary history, duojiao fish head has become a primary ambassador of the region’s Xiang cuisine (named for the province’s largest river). This has invariably led to most duojiao recipes ending with a recipe for or reference to duojiao fish head.

Use duojiao to steam fish, seafood, chicken legs, or eggplant or just spoon it over noodles and rice. Pouring sizzling oil over a mix of duojiao, fresh garlic and ginger is a common practice for stir-fries and the above duojiao yutou. For traditional duojiao fish head, you can also add additional diced paojiao and whole xiaomila chilies, if you want.

Tips for Making Duojiao

In Hunan, making duojiao is a quick process from start to finish: Chilies are chopped whole, seed-in and skin-on, and the ferment is ready after a few days in such hot weather. Ideally, you want a meaty, thin-skinned hot red pepper whose heat is just tolerable. This is traditionally far hotter than a jalapeño pepper; it’s not uncommon for locals to use Thai bird’s eye chilies. A common local crop for making duojiao is fresh 朝天椒 (cháotiānjiāo), facing heaven chilies. In the U.S., Fresno chilies are a good choice.

A note about seeds: The duojiao look is not the same without them. Deseeding can help with mitigating heat, but the pith is the real storehouse of capsaicin. Unless you are pickling from necessity out of your home garden, consider buying multiple varieties of red chili that, combined, provide a more suitable heat level.

At its core, duojiao is just chilies and salt, but for versatility, many home cooks also add garlic and/or ginger, as I’ve done in my recipe below. More often than not, duojiao dishes (like duoyiao yutou) also call for garlic and ginger; if you add them to the pickle from the start, you don’t have to mince them fresh every time. You can also run big batches of minced garlic and ginger in a food processor with a fraction of the effort it takes to hand-mince a single portion of these aromatics. A little sugar softens the taste and neutralizes the chilies’ raw spice.

The salted ferment is ready when it sours, which is not scientific and doesn’t need to be. In a naturally ventilated home, this can happen within a day or two. In fact, since you need to salt the chilies overnight to draw out moisture and start the ferment, the chili mixture should already start souring by the time you pack it. Some people throw it in the fridge right away and let it sit that way for months, while others let it sit out at room temperature longer. If you want to taste-test the duojiao at various times during fermentation, you won’t be harming the rest of the batch. Just try it! 

It’s not that important how long the chilies ferment as long as there’s no mold. These pickles are often made in large quantity, meant to be kept indefinitely until the family finishes it all. 

To help prevent any bad bacteria in your pickles, thoroughly wash and air-dry your jars before using. Only use clean and dry utensils for transferring the pickles. For extra protection, you can pour a splash of high-proof liquor (>50%) into the top of the filled jar, creating a light barrier between the oxygen and the fermenting liquid. You can also use plastic wrap as an additional barrier, pressing it flush against the pickle surface to keep out the air. Or you can use a traditional Sichuan pickling jar with a moat, filling it with water to keep pathogens from getting in.

For more easy salt-cured pickle recipes, see Taylor’s guide to Sichuan Lacto-Fermented Pickles (Paocai, 泡菜) and her recipe for Sichuan Pickled Peppers (Paojiao, 泡椒) or Georgia’s Yunnan-style Spicy Pickled Mustard Greens (Suancai).