The Chillis That Face Heaven  

Heaven-facing chillies appear across the Spice Temple menu. They are fried with the chicken wings, used throughout the Fish Drowned in Heaven-Facing Chillies and paired with cashews in the Kung Pao chicken.

Known as Chao Tian Jiao (朝天椒) — these short, deep-red chillies are closely associated with cooking in Sichuan, Jiangxi and Hunan.

A foreign pepper 

Capsicum originated in the Americas and reached China in the late sixteenth century, although its precise route into the country remains uncertain.

The earliest known Chinese description appears in Gao Lian’s Zunsheng Bajian, published in 1591. He describes white flowers, red fruit and a spicy flavour, but gives most of his attention to the plant’s appearance. At that point, chilli was still more garden curiosity than kitchen staple.

Chinese cooking already had sources of heat and pungency, including ginger, mustard and Hua Jiao (花椒), the Sichuan peppercorn. What it did not have was the direct heat of capsicum.

From ornament to ingredient

Chilli was adopted unevenly across China. Inland Guizhou was among the earliest regions to make extensive culinary use of it, with the scarcity and expense of salt often cited as one reason for its popularity.

From there, chilli became increasingly important in the cooking of neighbouring Hunan and Sichuan.

In Sichuan, it joined rather than replaced the native peppercorn. Chilli brought heat, while Hua Jiao provided its distinctive citrus fragrance and numbing sensation. Together, they expanded the region’s repertoire of flavours and produced the combination now known as Má Là.

Why it faces heaven 

The name Chao Tian Jiao describes the way the chilli grows. Rather than hanging towards the ground, its fruit points upwards from the plant.

Heaven-facing chillies are short, conical and deep red when mature. Once dried, they can be fried whole in oil, releasing their fragrance and heat into a dish.

One chilli, three dishes 

At Spice Temple, heaven-facing chillies arrive dried from China and are fried in-house before service.

They play a different role in each dish. They bring direct heat to the wok-fried chicken wings, define the Fish Drowned in Heaven-Facing Chillies and sit alongside cashews in the Kung Pao chicken.

At Spice Temple, one ingredient shows just how varied that cooking can be.

Follow the heaven-facing chilli across the Spice Temple menu. Reserve your table via link above.

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