Quick and easy savory Chinese summer-pickled fresh chili is a popular side dish. It can be served with steamed rice, noodles, bread, or steamed buns, or topped with summer salads.
Chongqing’s summers are brutally hot. Every year, besides iced watermelon, mung bean soup and a variety of cold appetizers are what keep me alive. Summer is prime time for all different types of chilis. I have made lots of recipes featuring the summer fresh chili peppers as the main star of several dishes, including roasted chili garlic sauce, which can go on almost every steamed dish or simmered ribs and chicken.
In this recipe, I love to introduce lovely, fresh, pickled summer chilis. It is a savory appetizer with a crispy texture and the freshness of chili. Spice lovers, you must try this one, as it captures the essence of summer’s taste and crunch. Or you can make it milder if you don’t want it too hot.
How to Choose Pepper
Choose younger and tender long green peppers. I used three types of chili peppers:
- Long thread chilies, which have thinner skin and no heat
- Erjingtiao chilies, which are thick-skinned and very spicy
- Xiangzhang chilies, which have a medium spice level
It comes out that Erjingtiao gives the richest flavor, while the thread chilies offer the best texture. So you can stick with one type or any of your favorite fresh chili for this recipe.
Besides the chili pepper and some common liquid seasonings, I also use aromatics like ginger and garlic to pickle along with the pepper.
The remeaning shallots, green onion, garlic, as well as star anise are used to infuse the oil. They are optional. You can use Sichuan peppercorn only as the infuser. But adding aromatics can enrich the taste.
In addition, if you have fermented black beans in your pantry, it is a lovely idea to add some in this summer pickle.
Step by Step
Remove the chili stems, wash them thoroughly, and let them air dry.
Prepare the cutting board and knife; make sure there is absolutely no raw water on them—everything needs to be perfectly clean.
Cut the chili pepper into small circles.
You can either pickle them in a bowl or in a glass container; make sure the container is clean, too. Add chopped garlic, ginger, and optionally some fermented dou-chi.
Now let’s make the marinating sauce: add around 2 cups of vegetable cooking oil, star anise, scallions, ginger, and shallots. Fry over medium heat until all the aromatics become dry and slightly browned. Remove all of the aromatics.
Turn down the heat, then add Sichuan peppercorns, light soy sauce, salt, sugar, and black vinegar. Simmer for a while until well combined.
Pour the sauce over the chili pepper. Mix well and set aside for 4 hours or overnight. I tried it at different stages. It’s super crunchy and flavorful after 4 hours. Overnight, it loses some crunch but gets way richer in taste. Choose what works best for you: make it in the morning for maximum crunch, or prep it before bed for deeper flavor.
What to Serve
There are lots of ways to enjoy this pickled chili pepper. You can use it as a side dish for all your meals in summer. Or match it with steamed buns, noodles, or porridge.
Fresh Summer Pickled Peppers
Ingredients
- 500 g fresh chili pepper- your favorite type younger and tender ones
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 thumb ginger minced
- 1 tbsp douchi optional
Infused oil
- 2/3 cup oil
- 3 green onions
- 4 garlic cloves cut into halves
- 1 star anise
- 3 shallots cut into small pieces
- 1 tbsp. Sichuan peppercorn
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tbsp. black vinegar
Instructions
- Remove the chili stems, wash them thoroughly, and let them air dry.
- Prepare the cutting board and knife; make sure there is absolutely no raw water on them—everything needs to be perfectly clean.
- Cut the chili pepper into small circles.
- You can either pickle them in a bowl or in a glass container; make sure the container is clean, too. Add chopped garlic, ginger, and optionally some fermented dou-chi.
- Now let’s make the marinating sauce: add vegetable cooking oil, star anise, scallions, ginger, and shallots. Fry over medium heat until all the aromatics become dry and slightly browned. Remove all of the aromatics.
- Turn down the heat, then add Sichuan peppercorns, light soy sauce, salt, sugar, and black vinegar. Simmer for a while until well combined.
- Pour the sauce over the chili pepper. Mix well and set aside for 4 hours or overnight.