There are lots of magic ingredients in Chinese kitchen. They are humble and easy to access, but create great flavors with a small amount. Pickled pepper belongs to this group. No matter the famous YuXiang style dishes or unknown pickled pepper stir fry dishes, pickled peppers bring very unique flavor to dishes.
There are several types of pickled peppers in China, the same situation with pickled ginger. This is the most popular method across the country. We have another option of making pickled peppers with a typical Sichuan pickled jar, in which Lactic Acid Bacteria takes the advantages.
The type I use is a very famous Chinese local spice named as “野山椒”, literally mean wild mountain chili peppers. They have a high level of spice, although quite small. Marinating pickling can help to simulate the aroma and milden the spice. You can use other types of chili peppers from your local market. The overall principle is to choose smaller and hotter ones.
Cook’s Note
We usually do not eat it directly because of the hotness. They are used as seasonings for other dishes in most cases. For example in this famous Hunan style beef stir fry or simply use it in shredded potato stir fry just like most of the Hunan style restaurant.
Ingredients
- 300g fresh small green peppers
- 1 cup cold boiled water
- 1 cup white rice vinegar
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 thumb ginger
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. Chinese spirit or other hard liquid like vodka
Steps
Boil some water and let it cool down completely. Or you can use purified water.
Wash the green peppers, discard any spoiled ones. Set aside until completely drained. Cut the top off and keep the pepper body only. This step is extremely important! I usually set them overnight.
Sterilize the container is extremely important to prevent your pickled pepper been spoiled. My common solution is soak the jars in boiling water, then air-dry completely.
Place the pepper in the jar, place water, white spirit, white vinegar, slat and sugar in. Gently shake to make all the ingredients well combined. If possible, use a weight and make sure all of the peppers are soaked in the brine.
Set aside and wait for 7 days until well pickled. The color turns slightly yellow instead of green.
Pickled Peppers (Pao Jiao)
Ingredients
- 300 g fresh small green peppers
- 1 cup cold boiled water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 tbsp. garlic clove
- 1 tbsp. thumb ginger
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. Chinese spirit or other hard liquid
Instructions
- Boil some water and let it cool down completely. Or you can use purified water.
- Wash the green peppers, discard any spoiled ones. Set aside until completely drained.
- Cut the top off and keep the pepper body only.
- Sterilize the container is extremely important to prevent your pickled pepper been spoiled. My common solution is soak the jars in boiling water, then air-dry completely.
- Place the pepper in the jar, place water, white spirit, white vinegar, slat and sugar in. Gently shake to make all the ingredients well combined.
- Set aside and wait for 7 days until well pickled.
Nutrition
Are the spirits necessary? I don’t drink hard liquor, but i would like to try this recipe, is there a way to make it without the hard alcohol?
It works too. But you need to make sure your container is completely clean and the final product has less flavor.
Can you specify what type of peppers you use? We have been looking for such a pepper just like in your photos!
That’s the wide small peppers from China. It is ok to use other types.
There is a restaurant called Mama Changs in my area and they served a dish called pickled chili flounder fish pot with bird’s eye chili, vermicelli, and tofu.
I was wondering if you’ve heard of this kind of dish and if this pickled peppers can be used in that dish. I am trying to recreate it and any help would be great
Please and Thank you
Yes, E.G. we get similar dishes. You can check this one.
thanks for the recipe Elaine. It’s very easy to use and I just pickled a bunch of Fresno hot peppers and will be using in my Chinese/Sichuan cooking.
Thanks Eugene. It is one of the best seasoning in the coming cold winters for stir-frying and soups.
I wonder if we dont use the vinegar, will the taste be sour? And I just have a question, if we use vinegar, is this work still a fermentation?
Thank you.
Vinegar is just used to create a acidic condition that can speed up the fermentation. Can be skipped for sure.