If you’ve ever been to a Sichuan restaurant, you’ve probably had lazi chicken, an iconic dish in the regional cuisine. Chunks of golden fried chicken are tossed in a fiery wok and served amidst a sea of scorching red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns. Sichuan chefs usually opt for bone-in chicken, but Jing Gao, founder of chili crisp brand Fly By Jing, likes to serve hers as wings, which are a bit easier to find in a pile of peppers. A gratuitous amount of chilies and Sichuan peppercorns accompany this dish, but worry not, they’re not meant to be eaten—they’re only there to impart depth of flavor and heat. Sichuan chefs often fry their own peanuts for lazi chicken, but Gao uses the brand Huang Fei Hong’s spicy nuts as a shortcut.
Adapted with permission from The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp: Spicy Recipes and Stories from Fly By Jing’s Kitchen by Jing Gao, copyright © 2023. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Featured in “A New Kind of Asian Grocer Has Arrived,” by Megan Zhang.
Yield: 4 Time: 13 hours Ingredients For the mala spice mix (makes about ½ cup): ⅓ cup dried erjingtiao chiles, coarsely chopped 2 Tbsp. cumin seeds 1½ tsp. fennel seeds 1 tsp. whole cloves 2 black cardamom pods 2 star anise 3 Tbsp.
