Mala Xiangguo

Mala xiangguo is a build-your-own mix of meat and vegetables dry-fried together in a numbing, chilli-hot Sichuan pepper oil. It's a "dry pot" stir-fry, and there's no single fixed recipe — the whole format is built around a diner picking their own combination of proteins and vegetables from a display, which then gets tossed together in the same fiery, tingling sauce.

What it actually is

Sichuan pepper and chilli fry together in oil with garlic and spring onion until the oil turns deep red and takes on the pepper's distinctive numbing quality — the mala sensation the dish is named for, a tingling, slightly anaesthetic heat that's different from ordinary chilli spice. Whatever meat, tofu, mushroom and vegetable pieces have been chosen go into that hot, fragrant oil and stir-fry together, dry rather than sauced heavily, until everything cooks through and takes on the pepper oil's flavour.

The mala sensation, not just chilli heat, is the whole point. A version that's simply spicy from chilli without the numbing tingle of Sichuan pepper is missing half of what "mala" — literally "numbing and spicy" — actually describes; the two sensations together are what the dish is built around.

How it's served

• Hot, in a large shared bowl or pot, mixed ingredients tossed together.
• As a main course, the exact ingredients chosen by the diner from a display of raw options.
• Dry, coated in oil rather than a thick sauce, distinct from a wetter stir-fry.

Writing it on a menu

• Say how the build-your-own selection works, since the format itself is often unfamiliar to guests who haven't ordered it before.
• Note the mala numbing sensation, since it's a genuinely different feeling from straightforward chilli heat that some guests may not expect.
• Mention that allergens vary entirely by what's chosen, since the dish has no fixed ingredient list.
• Flag the spice level as adjustable, since the amount of chilli and Sichuan pepper can typically be tuned to taste.