Skyward-pointing chili pepper / Facing heaven pepper
Finally!!! I found the skyward-pointing chili pepper that is THE ingredient in Sichuan cooking. My obsession with Sichuan cuisine started about one year ago when I had some water-cooked beef at a restaurant in Stockholm. I was seduced by all the spices and flavours, it really surprised me! When I was in London I had my very first hotpot and since then I have been hunting for these chillies. I tried to find them in Spain, in Finland and in Sweden! I think I have spent hours browsing through stores (at least 10 different Asian supermarkets), I have tried to find the online and googled like crazy! I have spoken to Chinese people in the stores, asked in restaurants but without luck…
However, I found the heaven facing peppers at a store called Kina Li on Ringvägen 129 in Stockholm. As you can see from the picture below, they differ from the normal dried red chili (which is usually a Thai chili). They are shorter, the shape is different and the colour is darker and the flavour is much nicer.
I can finally start cooking Sichuan food from scratch, God bless Kina Li!!!
Thank you!!!! I have been looking for real Sichuan chili for ages. Now I now. I have to go to Söder and Ringvägen. BTW, are you Swedish?
2011/03/17 at 11:45 am
This is the only place to go in Stockholm if you want to find some Sichuanese ingredients. Not perhaps the best quality but the closest you can get to the real stuff in Sweden. I used to live in Sweden, now based in London, originally from Finland.
2011/03/18 at 11:10 pm
I just have to write and thank you once again. I got the Sichuan chili last week-end, and finally the ma po dofu taste like it should. I had given up all hope finding these chilies in Stockholm, but thanks to you (and Kina Li) our Sichan food is so much better.
2011/04/18 at 6:56 pm
Glad to hear that Kina Li made your day! Out of curiosity, what did you cook?
2011/04/19 at 2:12 pm
So far we have made ma po dofu, and yesterday I added the chilies in what Ningtsu Malmkvist calls “Ättiksstekt kyckling” (which has nothing to do with “ättika”, the Swedish version of vinager). And soon we’ll have la zi ji.
2011/04/19 at 2:25 pm
Sound delicious, glad to hear I could be of help. I would recommend trying to make a chili oil out of them together with Sichuan peppers, it really makes a great condiment to any dish!
I’d also recommend buying Fuchsia Dunlops book Sichuan Cookery, it’s a great source of inspiration. You can get it through Amazon or any of the Swedish sites.
2011/04/19 at 2:41 pm