麻辣土豆片 (mala tudou pianr)

Usually made with thin potato slices, this recipe can be used to liven up shoe string fries as well.

Ingredients

Sunflower/vegetable oil for deep frying
4 medium potatoes
1 tablespoon of dry chilli flakes (or to taste) (dried chilli loses much of its heat in frying)
1 teaspoon Sichuan (Szechuen) Pepper
1 spring onion
Salt to taste

Method

Peel and cut potatoes into slices (about 3mm thick) and rinse off starch
Heat oil to just above moderate (i.e. not smoking hot)
Fry potato until light yellow colour
Add Sichuan pepper and chilli flakes to frying potato (in the hot oil) and reduce heat to medium/low
Continue cooking potato slices until golden
Remove with slotted spoon and let drain (fragrant pepper and chilli should cover each slice)

Serve immediately. Garnish with chopped spring onion, add salt to taste.

This dish varies from restaurant to restaurant, so experiment!

Other popular additions include cilantro garnish, coarse black pepper, whole dried chillis, chilli powder and Szechuen peppercorns (花椒粒, Xanthoxylum seeds).

Note: The term mala translates roughly as “numbing and hot". The heat obviously derives from the chillis, but the “numbing” sensation is caused by the Szechuen pepper. English does not have a word for this sensation because no Western culture uses ma spices in its cooking. If you’re curious, corriander seeds give this sensation when eaten, but be careful, the “taste” is very intense!