Sichuan Cuisine · FFET10251
Mala xiang guo (spicy fragrant pot)
Mala xiang guo is a soupless dish of meat, seafood, vegetables and tofu, stir-fried and tossed in a numbing-hot seasoning.
A deep white porcelain bowl holds flank steak, peeled shrimp, cauliflower, lotus root, celery and firm tofu coated in glossy red oil, plus dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
The regional cooking of Sichuan and Chongqing, known for its wide range of flavour types.
Mala xiang guo is meat, seafood, vegetables and tofu blanched or seared and then stir-fried with chili, Sichuan pepper, garlic and a hot pot base or doubanjiang, served dry without soup, often with diners picking the ingredients. It may have evolved from Sichuan dry pot or originated with the Tujia people of Jinyun Mountain in Chongqing. A 2019 account treats the Chongqing origin as hearsay and also names Beijing, Shenyang and Shanghai; these claims are unverified. This entry gives no birthplace and no year.
What
Mala xiang guo is a stir-fry of meat, seafood, vegetables and tofu coated in a numbing-hot seasoning. It is served dry, without soup, and diners often choose the ingredients themselves.1,2,5,6
When
Dating claims include the early 2000s and a 2021 claim of nationwide spread by about 2005; neither cites a source, and no dated text was found. A recipe introduction also places its popularity in the early 2000s.2,4,5,6
Where
Proposed origins include Chongqing, the Tujia people of Jinyun Mountain in Chongqing, evolution from Sichuan dry pot, and Beijing. In a 2019 account, Chongqing-born interviewees reject the Chongqing origin; Beijing, Shenyang and Shanghai are also mentioned. These claims are unverified, with the Chongqing origin treated as hearsay.1,2,3,5,6
How
The ingredients are blanched, or the meat and shrimp are seared; then chili, Sichuan pepper, garlic, ginger and a hot pot base or doubanjiang are fried in the wok and everything is tossed together. Both recipes use a hot pot base (or hot pot seasoning) and doubanjiang; 1 also adds black bean sauce, and the other uses no soup base.5,6
Why
An explanation offered in 2019 is that Sichuan chefs in eastern cities made a quicker, chef-cooked version of hot pot for busy office workers. This was a Chongqing-born restaurateur's second-hand account and was not verified.3
Impact and influence
In 2019, Singapore's mala xiang guo stalls included ones that opened in 2009 and 2011.3
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
The ingredients of mala xiang guo can be swapped freely, and what I make at home is a small cooked-to-order version: beef, shrimp, cauliflower, lotus root, celery and tofu, fried with doubanjiang and hot pot seasoning. The seasoning amounts, 1 tablespoon of doubanjiang, 2 tablespoons of hot pot seasoning, 1 teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns and 10 dried chilies, follow a recipe by one named author; the pairing of beef with shrimp comes from a recipe by another named author. The weights of the vegetables and meat and the blanching and stir-frying times are my own choices at home, and the grams and milliliters are my conversions from spoons and ounces.
Ingredients
- Flank steak 150 g, sliced thin across the grain
- Peeled shrimp 150 g, deveined
- Cauliflower 170 g, in small florets
- Lotus root 100 g, sliced about 3 mm thick
- Celery 2 stalks, cut on the diagonal
- Firm tofu 100 g, cut into small strips
- Cooking oil 45 ml (3 tablespoons), used in two rounds
- Dried chilies 10, snipped in half
- Sichuan peppercorns 1 teaspoon
- Garlic 5 cloves, smashed
- Ginger 4 slices
- Doubanjiang 1 tablespoon (about 15 g)
- Hot pot base or hot pot seasoning 2 tablespoons (about 30 g)
- Scallions 2, cut in sections
- White sesame seeds 1 teaspoon
Steps
- Prepare everything: slice the beef thin, devein the shrimp, break the cauliflower into small florets, cut the lotus root, celery and tofu, smash the garlic, slice the ginger and cut the scallions.
- Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch the cauliflower and lotus root for about 2 minutes, until barely tender but still firm to the bite. Drain well.
- Heat the wok, add 15 ml of oil, and sear the beef until the outside has lost its pink. Then add the shrimp and cook until they turn pink and opaque, about a minute for each. Take both out together.
- Add the other 30 ml of oil to the wok, turn to medium heat and fry the dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns for about 20 seconds until fragrant, without letting them blacken. Add the garlic and ginger, then the doubanjiang and the hot pot seasoning, and fry until the oil turns red.
- Add the blanched cauliflower and lotus root, the celery and the tofu, turn the heat to high and toss for about 2 minutes so that everything is coated in the red oil.
- Return the beef and shrimp and toss for about a minute to heat through. Cut open a thick slice of beef: no pink should be left inside, and the shrimp should be fully pink and opaque. Scatter the scallions and sesame seeds and serve hot.
Tips
- Keep the dried chilies and peppercorns moving as soon as they hit the oil. This is my own habit, because they can scorch and turn bitter within seconds.
- Hot pot base and doubanjiang are salty already, so I always taste at the end before deciding whether to add salt. With a store-bought hot pot seasoning, I read the ingredient list before cooking for anything I need to avoid.
Allergens: shellfish, sesame, soy, wheat