Sichuan chilies

[bobmac]

Anybody know a mail-order source, or, barring that, a reasonable substitute? If you use more potent Thai chiles how much do you reduce the amount by?

[Magictofu]

Do you mean the dried almost round chiles or are you referring to something else?

[bobmac]

Yes, the round ones. They call them pointing to heaven chiles or something like that.

[liuzhou]

Where are you, bobmac?

[bobmac]

Latham, Massachusetts.

[jmolinari]

I had a hell of a time finding facing heaven chilis, even online...i eventually found them at a chinese grocer in chinatown here in Atlanta.

Good luck finding them online.

[liuzhou]

Sorry bobmac, I only know where to get them in the UK. Or I thought I did. The two places that did them mail order seem to have disappeared!

Luckily for me, I'm in China!

(Spots opportunity to fill gap in market!)

[C. sapidus]

Anybody know a mail-order source, or, barring that, a reasonable substitute? If you use more potent Thai chiles how much do you reduce the amount by?

←

Fuchsia Dunlop (fiore) answered this question in the Sichuan peppercorn thread (clicky):

Although the facing heaven are the most common chilli used in Chengdu cooking, other chillies are used in the region, eg smaller, thinner pointy chillies which are popular in Chongqing. The main thing is to choose a type which will give a good red colour and yield a heat you find palatable. Just experiment with whatever is available in your local spice shops. No need to be too dogmatic about this one.

Packets of appropriately-shaped chiles from our local Indian market seem to work just fine for Sichuan cooking.

[Magictofu]

If you are looking for the round dried chili peppers (and not sichuan pepper) you can substitute them with the other dried chiles you can find in chinese grocery stores and even chili flakes in a pinch. But I would be very surprised if you can't find them locally.