A hand stirs glossy red chili bean paste in a large open clay vat with a wooden paddle, a blue-and-white bowl holds more paste, red chilies, broad-bean halves and coarse salt lie on the table, and a wooden box holds broad beans.
Hot bean paste
Introduction
Hot pastes fermented from broad beans and chili.
Chili bean pastes are pastes fermented from broad beans (some use soybeans) and chili with salt, together with similar hot chili sauces. They are red and salty-hot and are used for stir-frying and seasoning, and they are an indispensable seasoning of Sichuan cooking, used in mapo tofu and twice-cooked pork. Chili reached China in the Ming and the paste came later, though accounts of its date differ. Unfermented chili and chili powder belong to Spices, and non-hot broad bean pastes belong to Sauces and Pastes.