Grilling Season's Not Over
Greetings, Friends of The Mala Market,
Our news this month is that we've got a whole new line of Shao Kao Spices for Chinese BBQ! While we wish we'd launched them at the beginning of the summer instead of the end, we know that not only is there a whole lot of grilling season left, but that some of you grill year round and that these seasonings work equally well for oven roasting and air-frying.
Like hot pot, shao kao is wildly popular throughout China, with endless regional variations. The grilled skewers we know and love are those from Western China, from northern Xinjiang lamb skewers to the BBQ of Sichuan and Chonqing, where they grill just about anything they can thread on a bamboo skewer. With a heady coating of chilies, cumin, Sichuan pepper, sesame and other spices, they are unique among the world's grilled foods. Whether you're in the mood for smoky, spicy or tingly—or all three at the same time!—we've got a blend for that.
Enjoy!
🌶 Taylor & Fongchong 🌶
P.S. : Also back in stock: Our full assortment of Sichuan preserved and pickled vegetables. Yacai, zhacai, pickled er jing tiao chilies and pickled long beans. As well as our mala-rific hot pot soup base! As you may recall, these are the items in our store that we source from another Sichuan importer, in NYC. They stopped importing for awhile when the China tariff was more than 145%, but they finally resumed and got a new shipment in. |
|
 |
Shao Kao Chinese BBQ Spice Collection
|
$32.00
|
|
This collection includes all three of our Shao Kao Chinese BBQ Spice Blends at a 10% discount off individual prices. Or you can buy them individually through the links below.
Made for us in small batches in Chongqing—where they like their grilled foods spicy!—this is a chili-based spice line. But the three flavors have varying levels of heat. Here are the shao kao spices included in this collection and their main flavors:
-
Fragrant Hot: featuring chili, cumin, Sichuan pepper. We think of this smoky, spicy, tingly blend as the classic of Western China, featuring the three main flavors that combine to make Chinese skewers unlike any other in the world of grilled foods.
-
Tingly Hot: chili, Sichuan pepper (no cumin). This blend is the quintessential flavor of Chengdu and Chongqing barbecue, where chilies and Sichuan pepper rule.
-
Smoky Cumin: cumin, chili (less spicy, no Sichuan pepper). This is the classic flavor of Xinjiang and other Northwest China provinces, where cumin is the magical match for lamb skewers, roasts and stir-fries.
-
Shao Kao Collection: all three flavors
All of the blends are rounded out by sesame seeds, salt, sugar, msg and spices including fennel, smoked black cardamom and star anise.
Equally great for grilling, oven roasting and air-frying, you can use these spice blends with our recipes for Sichuan shao kao and vegetarian shao kao (see recipes below) or anywhere else you'd use a super flavorful spice seasoning or rub.
Note the large size of this glass spice jar compared to most spice jars on the market.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Sichuan Vegetarian Shao Kao
Xueci Cheng brings us this deep dive into Sichuan vegetable shao kao, with guidance on how to cut and grill vegetables and tofu products for Chinese grilling and a peek into the regional shao kao variations in Sichuan.
"While meat often takes the spotlight in barbecue culture, shao kao in Sichuan is surprisingly also vegetable-forward," writes Xueci. "...In fact, if you want to, you can make a fantastic meal out of Sichuan-style vegetable shao kao (烤素菜, kǎo sùcài) without any meat at all....
"On a recent trip to Ya’an, a city famous for its Shímián shāokǎo (石棉烧烤)—a style named for the now-famous Shimian District that includes a variety of cooking methods, including skewers cooked over open flames, food grilled in baskets, and thin slices of meat sizzled on a fiery iron griddle—I was reminded just how beautiful and abundant vegetable grilling can be. We feasted on thin lotus root and potato slices crisped at the edges; Chinese chives coiled into tight wheels and charred until aromatic; and enoki mushrooms that turned tender and juicy on the grill. Corn was skewered kernel by kernel—a labor of love—and whole eggplants were slow-roasted until meltingly soft, then split open and heaped with chopped garlic and fresh cilantro. Plant-based meat substitutes shine in this preparation, too. Dòfugān (豆腐干), or five-spiced tofu, develops a blistered, crispy skin....
"Each shao kao stall has its own closely guarded spice blend or signature basting sauce, but they all share a similar flavor philosophy: bold, spicy and addictive."
|
|
 |
Sichuan Everything Shao Kao
I also revisited my Sichuan shao kao recipe (long one of the most popular on our site), updating it with more photos and helpful tips. I tackle meats in my piece—including lamb, chicken wings and chicken skin—as well as an array of vegetables.
While vegetables need only to be brushed with oil and sprinkled with shao kao spice, meats and other proteins definitely benefit from a marinade before they hit the grill—where they then get another hit of shao kao seasoning, of course. Don't be shy with shao kao spice!
|
|
 |
Sichuan Dipping Chilies (Gan Die)
|
$13.00
|
|
Not to be confused with shao kao grilling spice, Sichuan Dipping Chilies is a condiment that is sometimes served with skao kao at the table. Called gan die, or chili dry dip, also translated as dipping chilies, it includes not only chilies and Sichuan pepper but also crushed peanuts, sesame and roasted soybeans for nutty richness and crunch. If your skewers don't have quite enough oomph, you can drag them through a pile of dipping chilies for the ultimate Sichuan flavor rush.
You might notice that our dipping chilies have a new label to match the shao kao spices, but don't worry, the recipe and flavor have not changed. And if you haven't tried it yet, take a look at the reviews for usage ideas and the many other things people put it on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Join Us for Chongqing Late-Night Shao Kao
Fongchong and I and her boyfriend, who lives in Chongqing, found a quintessential late-night shao kao place there this summer. Walking down Ziwei Road, truly one of the most lively and enticing food streets I've ever seen in any city, anywhere, with at least a mile of open-front bars, cafes, regional restaurants, hot pot and shao kao places, both upscale and street cool, it was hard to choose just one.
But we finally settled on one of the busiest BBQ places, with five grills and about eight grill masters working nonstop, flipping skewers by the fistful. Unlike most skao kao places, they had a limited, tightly curated menu, so we were able to try everything. Even Hao agreed that it was top tier, due to the quality ingredients and skillful grilling, of course, but mostly to the perfectly calibrated, spicy shao kao seasoning. Reminded me of our Tingly Hot Shao Kao Spice!
|
|
 |
Expand Your Shao Kao Horizons
The menu at the Chongqing shao kao place included this duck tongue FC is enjoying, and we all found it delicious. It has high "grapple factor," a term Fuchsia Dunlop uses to talk about the textures of Chinese food, which gives you time to really enjoy the shao kao flavor.
I always try to choose a few adventurous items at typical shao kao places, which usually have literally dozens of items to choose from. If you can thread it on a bamboo skewer, you can grill it!
Here are a few more tutorials for Chinese BBQ:
Our affiliate Maggie Zhu at Omnivore's Cookbook has a primer on Xinjiang lamb skewers made on a Chinese brazier. Try our Smoky Cumin Shao Kao Spice with these.
Our blog editor Georgia Freedman has a recipe on her own site for Yunnan-style shao kao (which is quite similar to Sichuan's) and some tips on converting a Weber grill to a makeshift shao kao grill.
If you want to go deep on Chinese grilling, the best tutorial and largest lineup of recipes I've seen—everything from lamb, chicken heart and pig intestine to tofu and whole fish—is in the Xi'an Famous Foods cookbook. The spice blends here resemble our Fragrant Hot Shao Kao Spice.
|
|
|
