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From: haynes@decwrl.UUCP (Charles Haynes)
Newsgroups: net.cooks
Subject: Re: Szechwan cooking
Message-ID: <1528@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 5-Apr-85 21:45:53 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.1528
Posted: Fri Apr  5 21:45:53 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 7-Apr-85 03:56:24 EST
References: <629@dataio.UUCP>
Organization: DEC Western Research Lab, Los Altos, CA
Lines: 14

Try adding some "Szechuan Chili Paste" to it. The paste is basically
ground peppers and oil, sometimes with garlic added. Another thing you
could try is adding more peppers (of course!). Or you could add hot
oil. If you are pre-cooking the peppers, you can adjust the heat of the
dish by cooking the peppers more or less. Pre-cook the peppers more to
reduce the heat, fry them less to increase the heat. Cooking them also
imparts a slightly smoky, nutty flavor that I like, so I usually up the
heat by adding more peppers, or adding chili paste. The seeds are the
main source of heat in peppers, so removing the seeds before cooking
will reduce the heat significantly without changing much of the rest of
the character of a dish.

        Good luck!
        -- Charles