Spice Up Dinner Tonight With These Chinese Szechuan Recipes

This is the popular dish made with chicken, peanuts, and hot chiles, named after a government official or "Kung Pao". Feel free to turn the heat up or down on this dish by adjusting the amount of chiles used. Cashews can replace the peanuts.

Tofu and a bit of ground meat are dressed up with spicy seasonings in this popular dish. The name, Mapo Doufu, means "Old Pockmarked Grandmother Bean Curd" in honour of the old woman who is reputed to have invented the dish. Feel free to substitute ground beef for the ground pork if desired.

Unlike other Szechuan recipes, this popular soup gets its heat from white pepper (the sour comes from vinegar). Tofu adds extra protein to this warming soup that is reputed to be good for colds.

This popular Szechuan dish is a staple at many Chinese restaurant buffets. Instead of chili paste, feel free to add 4 - 6 small dried red chilis if desired.

This simple Szechuan dish consists of bits of ground pork on rice vermicelli noodles.

Pork is first boiled, and then stir-fried in this Szechuan dish. Here is another variation on Twice Cooked Pork, made with sweet bean paste and different vegetables.

This recipe uses a technique known as "dry-frying" where the beef is fried for several minutes, making it extra chewy and crispy. The dry-fried beef is then stir-fried with Chinese spices and seasonings.

Poultry and citrus are a popular combination in western China. The linking of hot chiles with Szechuan peppercorn produces the "numbing fire" that gives Szechuan cuisine its fiery reputation.

Sweet, sour and salty come together in this popular dish, also known as Strange Flavor Chicken. Chunky peanut butter can be used in place of sesame paste.

Eggplant and ground pork are stir-fried with chile paste paste and other seasonings in this spicy Szechuan recipe. For a vegetarian version, leave out the ground pork and increase the eggplant.