Sichuan Food

Ma. Nope, not some shrugging gesture of ‘whatever’. Nor the smacking of lips. Rather the Sichuan term for ‘numbing’, a reaction caused by Sichuan peppers. They’re small, red and dried, and have a wonderfully fragrant citrus tang. But when mixed with dried chillies, the effect becomes ‘hot and numbing’, perhaps the most famous facet of this regional Chinese cuisine.

Once upon a time, not so many years back, the UK was in thrall to Cantonese cooking. After all, most immigrants came from Hong Kong and southern China. And so we believed Chinese food was all about dim sum, delicate (or not-so-delicate) steamed fish and sweet-and-sour pork, unaware of the eight distinct culinary regions of that vast land.