It's getting cold these days, and let's preserve some "heat" for the winter!

I love spicy food a lot, but I don't like them too oily or too heavy/salty, so I pickle my own chili every year. It's super tasty, spicy, and works well with a lot of dishes (stir fry, steamed meat, seafood or even sandwiches).

You can choose to make it with or without sesame oil, personally I prefer the one with sesame oil! If you love spicy food as well, you should definitely try it!

Step 1: Ingredients

Fresh Chili - 200g (We used Thai chili, you can choose chili based on your own preference and your spicy level)

Sichuan Peppercorn - 5g

White Hard Liquor - 2 tsp (We used Chinese Liquor ErGuoTou, you can use Vodka)

Salt - 15g

Sugar - 10g

Garlic - 5-6 cloves

Optional but recommend:

Sesame oil, use to cover the chili

Step 2: Prepare the Chili

Wash the chilis carefully, and put them on kitchen towel to make sure they're completely dry.

Remove the stems carefully, please wear gloves!

In China we put chilis under the sun to get rid of any excess water, because remaining water will ruin your work.

Step 3: Chop the Chilis

Roughly chop the chilis into small chucks. Take half and pound them in a mortar with a pestle, then pour them back with the chopped chilis into a mixing bowl.

You will get some juice out of the chilis and it will make the pickled chili spicier and more flavorful. If you don't have mortar and pestle, you can also use blender to roughly blend the chilis, but be sure you clean the blender thoroughly after you use it.

Step 4: Mix Everything

Put salt, sugar, sichuan peppercorns into the mixing bowl as well. Pound the garlic cloves in mortar with a pestle and pour them into the bowl as well.

Mix everything well with your hand.

VERY IMPORTANT: WEAR GLOVES. You want to feel the spiciness with your tongue not your fingers, trust me.

Step 5: Preserve It!

Transfer the chili into a sealed jar, add white hard liquor (to prevent bacteria) and sesame oil to cover the chili (optional but highly recommend).

After one week or so the preserved chili is ready to use! If you add oil usually you can store it for a long time (at least a month) in the fridge after you open it. Every time we finish the whole jar in 2 or 3 weeks though, we love love spicy food.

Step 6: Use It in a Lot of Dishes!

A very classic Chinese dish with this preserve chili is Steamed Fish Head with Pickled Chili. However I understand that many of you cannot accept fish head, so you can steam chopped pork ribs with pumpkins, beef with lotus root with this preserved chili too!

Add a teaspoon into your stir fry or just use it as a sauce for seafood and meat, it will add a lot of flavors into your dish as well!