Introduction : Sichuan cuisine is famous for being spicy. Red peppers are used in Sichuan cooking with abandon and I've seen many a red and sweaty face over Sichuan food. You really do have to like spicy food to enjoy Sichuan cuisine. Get beyond the fire, and you'll find delicious flavors. Sichuan food is popular throughout China and rightly so. Enjoy some of these dishes during your visit to Sichuan or just a Sichuan restaurant anywhere.
Dan Dan Mian: “Dahn dahn mee-an”, noodles in a spicy sauce. My favorite.
Fu Chi Fei Pian: “Foo cheh fay pee-an” is not for the faint of heart. This dish combines very thinly sliced mystery-meats (mostly offal) with fresh coriander and lots of spicy oil and sauce. Don’t think too much about it and you’ll really enjoy it.
Ma La Ji: “Mah lah gee” is spicy chicken. At Shunxing Ancient Teahouse it was especially enjoyable because it came swimming in spicy sauce and underneath the chicken were the most tender bamboo shoots.
Ma Jian Feng Wei: “Mah gee-an fung way” is lettuce in a sweet sesame sauce. The sauce looks like creamy peanut butter. It’s slightly sweet and a nice cooling dish to counteract heavy spices.
Guo Ba Zhu Pian: “Gwoh bah joo pee-an” is not spicy. At Shunxing Teahouse, it consists of pork meat and vegetables in a heavy gravy served atop crunchy rice cakes. Very nice!
Mapo Dofu: "Mah po doh foo" is tofu, minced pork and spicy sauce. I love it over a bowl of rice and the trick of mapo dofu is temperature vs spice. When it comes to the table it is generally too hot to eat, but the longer you let the tofu sit in the sauce, the spicier it becomes. So eating mapo dofu is mastery over heat in more ways than one!
