Chili-Fried Chili

If you are using douchi, wet the 1/2 tbsp of fermented black soybeans with about 1/2 tsp of baijiu, vodka or plain water. Set it aside while you prep everything else.

💡 Douchi comes out of the jar dry and hard. The few minutes of soaking softens it so it breaks down in the wok instead of staying as salty little pebbles.

Mince the 25 g of red chili, the 3 cloves of garlic and the inch of ginger together into one rough pile. Set aside.

💡 Chop them together, not separately. They go into the wok at the same moment, and a single mixed pile means you cannot fumble the order when the oil is hot.

Lightly crush the 450 g of green chili with the flat of your knife or the heel of your hand, then chop them into roughly 10 cm (4 inch) sections.

💡 Crushing splits the chili open so heat and seasoning can get inside. Whole, unbroken chilis stay hollow and steam in their own skin — they never take on the sauce.

Heat a wok until it is properly hot and swirl in the 1 tsp of oil — just a thin smear. Over a high flame, go in with the green chilis and let them char undisturbed for about 60 seconds.

💡 Resist stirring. Blistered brown-black patches — 'tiger skin' — are the flavour you came for, and they only form where the chili sits still against hot metal.

Flip the chilis and give them another 60 seconds on the second side.

Sprinkle in the 3/8 tsp of salt and quickly stir-fry everything together.

💡 The salt goes on now, not later. It pulls moisture out of the chilis, which is exactly what makes the next covered stage work.

Drop the flame to medium-low and cover the wok. Let the chilis cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring now and then. They are done when they smell distinctly roasted and the skin is just barely starting to lift away from the flesh.

💡 This covered stage is the whole trick — the chilis steam in their own salted juice and go silky instead of squeaky. Skipping the lid is the single most common way this dish goes wrong.

Take the green chilis out of the wok and set them aside on a plate.

Swirl the 3 tbsp of oil (lard, ideally) into the same wok and let it melt. Over a medium-low flame, add the minced chili-garlic-ginger pile together with the wetted douchi, and fry until fragrant — about 1 minute.

💡 Medium-low, not high. Minced garlic and chili burn in seconds over a hard flame, and burnt garlic turns the whole wok bitter — there is no rescuing it.

Turn the flame up to high, return the cooked green chilis to the wok, and stir-fry everything together for about 30 seconds.

Swirl the 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce over your spatula and around the hot sides of the wok — not straight down into the middle — then mix well.

💡 Hitting the hot wall flashes the soy sauce into steam and gives it a toasty, smoky edge. Poured into the middle it just puddles and stews the chilis.

Add the seasoning — 1/8 tsp each of white pepper, sugar, chicken bouillon powder and MSG — and stir-fry for another 15 seconds or so to mix and dissolve. Serve hot, with plenty of rice.

💡 The sugar is not there to sweeten. An eighth of a teaspoon across 450 g of chili just rounds off the sharpest edge of the capsaicin — you will not taste it as sugar.