Click for Home Page Click for Contact Us Page Click for FAQ's Page Click for About Us Page Click for Sitemap Navigation
Main Menu
Image: Beefburger

Home Made Bread

Home Made Scotch Eggs

Image: Home Made Butter

Image: Home Made Chicken Liver Pate

Image: Hank's Home Made Sausages

Image: Home Made Pork Pies

Image: Chinese Curry Sauce

Image: Spare Ribs
How To
Chilli and Chilli Sauces or Lat Zhu Zhi
Whilst Cantonese cuisine is generally delicate of flavour, most Chinese people love hot chilli dishes, and sauces as table condiments. Prepared chilli spices such as Cayenne powders are rare, as Chinese normally cook with fresh chilli's

Chilli's are pronounced "la'ht d'zhU zhI" in Cantonese, and "ho lat" means spicy hot. "ho yee" means hot temperature. If you have difficulty remembering, or pronouncing 'chilli' in Cantonese, in a restaurant, most will understand 'ho lat'.

First let's get your mind right. Having grown my own chilli's in UK, I was caught out by Chinese ones initially. I was used to chilli's being green, and then turning through many colours to red as they ripen and get hotter. In Chinese wet markets, the green chilli's are the hot ones, and the red ones are milder! This is because the hot red chilli's all go to make table sauces. Occasionally there may be exceptions to this general rule!
   
Fresh Chilli

The main types of Chinese chilli are:

1. Sichuan Chilli - these are a round square of an inch and a half, and are similar to the Habanero or Scotch Bonnet chilli genus. They are in fact Caribbean Red Hot, which is generally regarded as being the hottest chilli in the world, registering a massive 300,000 - 475,000 on the Scoville Scale. It is extremely difficult to find these fresh, whilst they are available dried everywhere. Whilst I love hot chilli, I do not like these dried versions as they are simply extremely hot and dry.

2. Long green or red chilli. These are between 6 and 8 inches long by 1 inch wide, and vary in heat a lot. The vendor should know which are the hot ones, and which are likely to be mild. These are the ones that are commonly stuffed with ground pork meat - a most excellent dish that you simply fry for a few minutes.

3. Gnarly chilli's These resemble the excellent Bhavnagari Long and are very common in wet markets. Most are between 4 and 8 inches long, and normally green or just turning. Due to the vast array of chilli hybrids I cannot tell you their genus, as their are probably several. Ask the vendor for hot ones, and use as in UK.

4. Jalapeno chilli's are also common, and are usually either green or yellow in wet markets - again the red or hottest, and most mature appear to be missing. These are the ones my Cantonese wife uses in cooking. If you don't know, then Jalapeno chilli's have a smooth skin and are shaped like drops about 1 to 2 inches long. They rate between 100, 000 and 300, 00 on the Scoville scale.

Chilli's are added to many dishes, but not in any overpowering way normally. There are exceptions, such as large green chilli's stuffed with ground pork meat. Most supermarkets sell these on their fresh produce counter, and they are excellent!
Image: Caribbean Red Hot, one of the world's hottest chillis on the Scoville Scale

Image: Chinese Long Smooth Chillis - Click to Enlarge

Image: Chinese Long Smooth Chillis - Click to Enlarge

Image: Chinese Jalapeno Chillis - Click to Enlarge

Image: Chinese Jalapeno Chillis - Click to Enlarge
   
Chilli Sauce

All China's red chilli's appear to go into making some ridiculously hot chilli sauces. I have sampled hundreds of these over my time in China, and find many of them are simply hot and without substance - meaning they are simply very hot red chilli's chopped up and put into a jar. For something a lot better, please see below:

1. Lantern Brand Pepper Sauce (Top picture right). This is a fiery and most excellent chilli sauce, which looks like sweetcorn or Piccalilli.

Please treat this small jar of perfect pleasure with respect - even though it retails for around 4RMB per jar. Stunning!

Lantern Brand from Hainan Island in the very southeast of China, also make a red version, which is equally enthralling for any chilli lover.

2. My favourite chilli sauce in China is called Guilam (Gui Lin in Mandarin), and is a proper and fresh blend of chilli and other ingredients. Hong Kong Food giant Lee Kum Kee offer a very erstwhile version that is very consistent, but I actually prefer a local one if available. Being made from fresh ingredients, this chilli sauce does not keep well = no additives, but is fine if used within 3-months of opening and kept in the fridge. The Lee Kum Kee version does keep a lot better, sorry for any confusion - it is the fresh one that does not.

3. Some dishes may benefit from a sweeter and mild chilli and garlic sauce, and this is the one I recommend ... well not sure what it is called actually, so see the third picture right. I drip this over scrambled eggs on toast, Welsh rarebit, and similar. It is also good as a mild chilli dip.

4. Chilli and Blackbean Sauce or Gue'm Ma is a favourite Cantonese condiment, and is available in many restaurants also. It is a blend of hot chilli, cooked blackbeans, with trace ingredients set in oil.

When first tasted you will find the pronounced natural smokiness of the blackbeans hits your palate first. This is quickly followed by fiery chilli that warrants respect. Later you will perceive a slightly fruity quality, making this a most unusual and delicious blend - try it and see.
Image: Lantern Brand hot chilli sauce - Click to Enlarge

Image: Guilin chilli sauce - Click to Enlarge

Image: Mild, sweet chilli and garlic sauce - Click to Enlarge

Image: Chilli and Blackbean sauce - Click to Enlarge
This page will expand once I take my camera to the local wetmarket, and find suitable names for them all.

This information is as supplied by ourselves, and ably supported by our friends and various internet portals.
Search this Website
Search Query
Descriptions
Image: Wax Gourd - Click for Details

Image: Lao Lin - Click for Details

Image: Ba Choi - Click for Details

Image: Cheung Choi - Click for Details

Image: Chinese Garlic - Click for Details
Chinese Recipes
Image: Sik Juk, Congee, or Rice Porridge - Click for Recipe

Image: Chinese Style Ribs or Pi Gwat - Click for Recipe

Image: Chinese chicken wings and drumsticks - Click for Recipe

Image: Ba Choi Soup - Click for Recipe
Page Navigation: Top of Page
Link to: www.vidahost.com - Excellent Hosting and Support Services
Image for Decoration only
    Copyright Webmaster @ ChinaExpats Links