Szechuan Pepper

This awesome spice is the star of Chinese cooking for me, providing an wonderful background heat that gives way to a highly addictive warm, mouth-numbing sensation. Adding a pinch of peppercorns into hot oil will provide you with all the flavour you need for stir-frys and sticky braised meat dishes. They are grainy to eat, so it’s better to remove them from the hot oil, once fragrant. You’ll still get all the flavour but none of the texture. The whole spice will last about one year if kept in a dry, airtight container kept out of direct sunlight.