"Ma La" dishes and dry chilies

[hzrt8w]

I was browsing the web and looking at food pictures. I found these 3 pictures from a food forum site in China:

(Note: The site is located in China so the speed will be slow accessing from North America.)

http://www.10ke.com.cn/viewthread.php?tid=466&fpage=1

The first 2 pictures are on "Hot Fish Filet". The third picture is "Ma La Ribbit". "Ma La" in Chinese [Mandarin] means numb and hot.

Look at the quantity of dried chilies used! That looked like 30, 40 of dry chilies. Most Cantonese do not like hot food. Our tolerance of heat is almost zero. I am one of the few exceptions and I do like hot food. It's funny that we I recently had the "8th moon 15th day" dinner at Zen Peninsula in Millbrae, there was a "Crab with Fermented Black Beans and Chilies" dish. Before I took my bite, everybody at the table shouted and warned me "it is hot!". I looked at the dish. They used only about 2 dry chilies, chopped. LOL!

When I look at these pictures, I would say: "Now That is hot!"

Do you like "Ma La" dishes? Is it typical that one uses 30 to 40 dry chilies in a dish? Do you eat most of the dry chilies or avoid them?

Edited October 19, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[jo-mel]

hzrt -- that 'hot fish fillet' dish should be called 'chilis with fish fillet flavor'!!

My DH loves hot. He puts tabasco on his horseradish and uses red pepper flakes liberally. Well we were in the Yucatan bone fishing, and the Mayan chef on the island made a tortilla soup to die for. However he garnished it with a habenero pepper. An innocent little pepper sitting on top of the soup. Well, DH doesn't know habanero from a pickle. So he put the whole thing in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. In less than a minute he asked -- "Was I supposed to eat that thing?" He'd finally met his match!

What is the hottest part of a chili? The seeds? The rib inside that holds the seeds? The outer skin?

I like Ma La dishes, and in the la 辣, I like the heat it imparts, rather than eating the chilis themselves. But I especially like the ma 麻. Not just the numbing, but the flavor. Maybe the flavor is more the fragrance, but I really like it.

[Yuki]

I like "ma la", especially the ma in dishes but my digestive system does not agree with me. Since a lot of Chinese "ma la" dishes use oil to bring out the flavor of the peppers and chilis, some of the "ma la" dishes can be quite oily. I remembered having the "hot fish filet" where the fish was literally in a large bowl of oil with lots of chili and spices floating around. I enjoyed eating it(it was spicy and numbing but not overwhelming), but by the end of that dish, we had to soak the fish filet in water to get rid of those oil. If I had taken some "diet pill"(the kind where it would make oil comes out at your other end), I think my next morning would be very interesting.

[jokhm]

mmm

That first one is shuizhuyu.. People seem to be nuts for that in Beijing. For some reason I find it rarely actually HOT. Its definitely Ma. Usually they pull out most chilis just before serving though. mmm. I have a problem with these foods.. If I don't eat something insanely spicy for two days I start suffering withdrawal. It happened a few months ago in HK, and again this week in Shanghai. A Hunan dinner fixed that quick though. Spices are definitely some form of addictive drug. They have a lesser and lesser effect of you the more you eat it. If we go to any 'bland' places my girlfriend often has to find some pickled chilies to eat just to ....'get that feeling back'. Scary - But wonderful.

As for eating those dried chilies... I love them when they are in fried or stewed dishes. The big sichuan chilies are less intense and are delicious after stewing in a hotpot long enough. The smaller ones also add a ton of flavor if you eat them with the dish... though I do find that the following day isn't all that pleasant. (!!@$). But its worth it, right?

Edited October 19, 2005 by jokhm (log)

[Dejah]

Ma La is good...especially with noodles, wontons, tofu. I have made my own ma la yeo with sesame oil and habaneros, or with good vegetable oil, Thai chilis, garlic and ginger. Best to make this in the summer with your windows wide open and all ventilation systems on full blast. The fumes are worst than a sizzling chili/curry hot plate

I find habaneros give a distinct flavour to the oil...quite different from the chili, or Thai chilis. Used to stuff the habs with cheese, batter 'em and deep fried. Hubby can handle these, but I ODed on them and can't pop them like I used to.

I don't bother making my own ma la yeo these days. Found a good commercially made one called Siagon Chili Oil. It's actually a Canadian product...Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The hot is from cayenne peppers. It's hot but not as deadly as the habaneros.

I can't imagine anyone eating all those 30-40 chilis. Surely one can get the same effect with 10? Must be for shock value, and they certainly add to the colour of the dish.

though I do find that the following day isn't all that pleasant. (!!@$). But its worth it, right?

Double your pleasure...really get your money's worth!

Edited October 19, 2005 by Dejah (log)

[spaghetttti]

When I was younger, dishes redolent in fiery chiles really appealed to me. But, sadly, this is no longer true. I can cook with fire, I just can't seem to douse the flames.

[Dejah]

When I was younger, dishes redolent in fiery chiles really appealed to me.  But, sadly, this is no longer true.  I can cook with fire, I just can't seem to douse the flames. 

←

Ah...the Queen of Food Porn is back! And hot!

Welcome back, Yetti.

[Ben Hong]

I personally love ma la dishes, but a few years ago when I cooked a meal for my Mother and her sisters, I caught particular old hell from the old ladies. So many reasons were given why one should not eat such fiery foods: an affront to Confucian principles, too yang, too much "yit hei", upsets the balance of the body, and the real topper "leave that to those uncivilized people from the north, we are Kwangtung people." Whew!! I may be slow, but am not stupid, so I never did anything like that again, as I absolutely feared my "Dai Yee Ma" my eldest aunt.

[chefzadi]

The Queen (sistah) of food is back!

Salaam Aleikoum. Ramadan Mubarek sister Yettttttttttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

[Pan]

The thing that's fearsome to me about the fish filet dish is not the whole chillies but the amount of chili oil in the pot!

I've happily ordered and eaten dishes like the second one, though. Hmm...second though, those aren't whole chilis, as in the dish I sometimes get at Grand Sichuan that has more chilis in it than chicken. When you put a bunch of whole chilis in a dish, it doesn't get as hot as when you chop the chilis in two pieces, as it looks like they might have done. I see chili seeds on the meat. So I think I'd eat that with a lot of rice (except that I don't like frog, in any case).

I'm something like Yuki, in that I like food that has a pretty strong chili bite, but there are amounts of chili oil beyond which my stomach has problems. I do typically (and deliberately) eat up a certain number of the chilis in a dish, though.

[muichoi]

The dishes with whole chillies I don't find hot at all-particularly when made with genuine sichuan chillies which are really pretty mild-but the peppercorns in oil you can now buy here literally take the breath away with their numbingness-an incredible combination, but you're not meant to actually eat the copious oil.

[Pan]

The thought of someone trying to eat all that oil is very amusing.

[hzrt8w]

[...] I do typically (and deliberately) eat up a certain number of the chilis in a dish, though.

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I typically chew on about 6 to 7 of the dry chilies. That's all I can handle and still be within safety limit. I could chew more if I somehow can skip the seeds.

And why is so much oil used to cook the dish if it's not meant to be consumed?

[Pan]

[...]And why is so much oil used to cook the dish if it's not meant to be consumed? 

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Flavor.

[Fengyi]

Last night I made a Gong bao shrimp that entailed about 6 six chiles (was out of my proper Sichuan chiles, so I was using the generic larger sort), which was about equal to about 20 of the Sichuan ones. They have to be fried in a lot of oil at the start with Sichuan peppercorns to flavour the oil.......[cue: coughing and choking fits]

Eating it made me think - I can handle the "la" of the chiles - even in that amount (and I do chew on them...), but the "ma" of the Sichuan peppercorns really gets to me in the end. The numbing sensation gets a little much!

Has anyone had the Sichuan Shuizhu bullfrog with silk gourd? I had that last time I was in China and somehow the silk gourds soak up all that oil so each mothful you get of that is an explosion of "mala" oil. I must say, I had to leave most of those to the others eating.....

BTW, for Chinese readers....there is a series of descriptions that are useful for describing how one reacts to chile (as I remember them! and hoping the Chinese is readable!):

1. 辣 ? 我怕! Hot?.....I'm scared!

2. 我怕辣. I'm scared it's 'hot'.

3. 我不怕辣..... I'm not scared it's 'hot'.

4. 辣 , 我不怕! Hot?!?!? I'm not scared!

5. 我怕不辣 I'm scared it's not hot!

6. 不辣?!?! 我怕!! Not hot?!?!? I'm scared!!!

I know some people who exist in state number 6!!!

[jo-mel]

1. 辣 ? 我怕!    Hot?.....I'm scared!

2. 我怕辣.      I'm scared it's 'hot'.

3. 我不怕辣.....    I'm not scared it's 'hot'.

4. 辣 , 我不怕!      Hot?!?!? I'm not scared!

5. 我怕不辣            I'm scared it's not hot!

6. 不辣?!?! 我怕!!    Not hot?!?!? I'm scared!!!

Love it! I plan to memorize it -- with proper emphasis.

OK if I write it in Mandarin?

1. La? Wo pa!

2. Wo pa la.

3. Wo bu pa la.....

4. La, wo bu pa!

5. Wo pa bu la.

6. Bu la?!?! Wo pa!!

[Tepee]

Pssttt! Jo, Fengyi's writing in mandarin....you're writing in pinyin!

And, I'll add:

7. La bu la, wo dou bu pa!

Edited October 19, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Laksa]

If you share my sentiment:

不辣吃不下！ Bu la chi bu xia! (No heat? I can't eat!)

Then you should order this way:

全部加辣！越辣越刺激！Quanbu jiala! yue la yue ciji! (Make everything extra spicy. Nothing arouses like hot chillis)

Edited to add translation.

Edited October 19, 2005 by Laksa (log)

[jo-mel]

Pssttt! Jo, Fengyi's writing in mandarin....you're writing in pinyin!

And, I'll add:

7. La bu la, wo dou bu pa!

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OOPS! Wo shuo cuole! No chilis for me!!