Dried Peppers in Chinese Recipes

[lovecooking]

Why do Chinese recipes call for adding dried peppers directly to hot oil in the wok?

When you add dried Japones or Thai Peppers directly to hot oil in wok they end up being like dried out shoe leather and have to be picked out of the stir fry! Many Hunan or Schezuan recipes call for this.
I ask because in Mexican cooking dried peppers are reconstituted in boiling water first and then usually put in blender to make sauce.
What am I missing?????

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, lovecooking said:

What am I missing?????

 

Largely that the dried chillies are used to flavour the oil and are often not intended to be eaten.

 

If you ate all the dried peppers in a dish of the Sichuan favourite, 辣子鸡 là zi jī, for example, you'd be hospitalised. Also, in many Hunan dishes the peppers are not intended to be eaten, but to add flavour to the overall dish.

 

In much of Chinese cooking, dried ingredients such as peppers or mushrooms are not seen as merely preserved for rehydrating, but for the altered tastes drying brings. They are seen as different, separate ingredients. I regularly cook with both dried and fresh shiitake or peppers in the same dish. They bring different attributes to the party.

Edited January 25, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[lovecooking]

Thank You for your excellent response to my question.

Since in my area (Ocala, FL  USA) The Indian, Thai, and Japones Peppers are only available in dried form; It causes me to wonder if I used the Mexican method of rehydrating and blending to be used as a component of the stir fry sauce would work out?

[liuzhou]

I guess it would work out, but whether it would be "authentic" Chinese, whatever that means, I couldn't say.

[KennethT]

Personally, I think a rehydrated dried chili is very different from a fresh version of the same type.  So while doing what you propose might be very tasty, it would be very different from what a recipe might have intended.

 

Also, there are many types of Indian chilis - quite a few are available in dried form online... there are many types of Thai chilis also, but only a few types available here in the US.

 

This place https://foodsofnations.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=14_112 is close to me in NYC, but they ship as well - they have a very large dried chili selection....

[Toliver]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Largely that the dried chillies are used to flavour the oil and are often not intended to be eaten.

Yes. This. If they're still in the dish when served, eat around them, set them aside, etc.

My younger brother, who is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so to speak, ordered a Kung Pao dish during a family visit to a local Chinese food restaurant. He ate the chile peppers in the dish to prove his manliness and was sick for the next two days.

Lesson learned. 

[pastrygirl]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Largely that the dried chillies are used to flavour the oil and are often not intended to be eaten.

 

If you ate all the dried peppers in a dish of the Sichuan favourite, 辣子鸡 là zi jī, for example, you'd be hospitalised

 

In my experience, a person can eat a fair amount of chilies.  I went out for Sichuanese dinner a few days ago and ate most of my chilies, even if I wasn't supposed to.  And if you ever have occasion to try Bhutanese food, chilies are a main ingredient and can make up the bulk of a curry.

[chileheadmike]

51 minutes ago, Toliver said:

Yes. This. If they're still in the dish when served, eat around them, set them aside, etc.

My younger brother, who is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so to speak, ordered a Kung Pao dish during a family visit to a local Chinese food restaurant. He ate the chile peppers in the dish to prove his manliness and was sick for the next two days.

Lesson learned. 

I've eaten plenty of dried chiles, no ill effects. 

[liuzhou]

On 1/26/2018 at 2:58 AM, pastrygirl said:

 

In my experience, a person can eat a fair amount of chilies.  I went out for Sichuanese dinner a few days ago and ate most of my chilies, even if I wasn't supposed to.  And if you ever have occasion to try Bhutanese food, chilies are a main ingredient and can make up the bulk of a curry.

 

Of course, many people can eat a lot of chillies with no ill effect, but then it also depends on the type of chillies. They vary enormously in heat.

 

Also, I did say often the chillies are not meant to be eaten.  In many dishes, they are eaten (usually fresh), especially in Hunan food which is probably China's hottest (more so than that of Sichuan). I still say that if you eat all the chillies in 辣子鸡 là zi jī , you stand a good chance of being hospitalised. I've seen it happen.

 

On 1/26/2018 at 2:14 AM, Toliver said:

Kung Pao

 

And "kung po" (宫保 gōng bǎo) is one of the milder dishes!

Edited June 3, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I had no idea what 辣子鸡 là zi jī is so I turned to Google and it didn't let me down. Sounds interesting, may have to give it a shot. I do love a good challenge when it comes to chiles. It used to be one of our favorite pastimes at work until the coworker who was my main partner in crime in that endeavor passed away in a car accident several months ago. Haven't really had the heart for it at work since. I know the chiles are not really meant to be eaten in some dishes but I find them impossible to resist. I always eat them.

[liuzhou]

10 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

I had no idea what 辣子鸡 là zi jī is so I turned to Google and it didn't let me down. Sounds interesting, may have to give it a shot. I do love a good challenge when it comes to chiles. It used to be one of our favorite pastimes at work until the coworker who was my main partner in crime in that endeavor passed away in a car accident several months ago. Haven't really had the heart for it at work since. I know the chiles are not really meant to be eaten in some dishes but I find them impossible to resist. I always eat them.

 

辣子鸡 là zi jī is one of my all-time favourites. I cook it often and have posted it on the Dinner topic more than once, for example here (with preparation steps). This is one dish where I think you really do need the right peppers.

I don't recommend eating the chillies. Not only because of the heat. The short cooking time means that they never fully rehydrate so remain quite dry and unpalatable.

Edited January 26, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[Tri2Cook]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

辣子鸡 là zi jī is one of my all-time favourites. I cook it often and have posted it on the Dinner topic more than once, for example here (with preparation steps). This is one dish where I think you really do need the right peppers.

I don't recommend eating the chillies. Not only because of the heat. The short cooking time means that they never fully rehydrate so remain quite dry and unpalatable.

 

It does sound tasty but if I'm going to use that amount of chiles and not want to eat them, I'd probably pass on making it.

[Duvel]

45 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

It does sound tasty but if I'm going to use that amount of chiles and not want to eat them, I'd probably pass on making it.

They impart their flavor onto the dish. I remember having a wonderful rendition of la zi ji in Chengdu two years ago. Piled on a large earthenware plate copious amounts of fried dried chili, sichuan pepper and the occasional star anise, mixed with the same amount of perfectly smooth black marble spheres. You had to dig in that black and bright red pile, topped with green spring onions slivers, to find the little morsels of deep fried chicken, soaked in the aromatic oil from the above mentioned flavourings. Truly memorable ...

[Kerala]

On 25/01/2018 at 2:46 PM, liuzhou said:

 

 

 

Also, in many Hunan dishes the peppers are not intended to be eaten, but to add flavour to the overall dish.

 

Interesting, and it never occurred to me. Like others, I ate the chillies and thought it nice. Will I be able to resist next time?