Cook this
The working recipe — the Market List, the Method, and where it lives or dies
I
Origin
Chongqing, Sichuan — popularised by the restaurant Ge Le Shan in Chongqing in the 1990s; now a nationally beloved Sichuan dish
II
Description
Lazi ji: a mountain of dried chilis with small chunks of crispy-fried chicken buried within — you search for the chicken through a haystack of chili. Named for the dried chilis (la zi) that dominate the dish visually and aromatically. A quintessential Chongqing and Chengdu dish representing the maximalist end of Sichuan chili use — the chilis are flavouring, not food.
III
The Thread
—Korean dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken)
—Thai pad krapow gai (holy basil chicken stir-fry)
—Indian achari murgh (spice-forward chicken)
IV
Flavour Context
Intensely aromatic dried chili, crispy chicken, numbing-spicy, with the slight sweetness of Er Jing Tiao chili fragrance
Pillars V — VII
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