Salt & pepper dishes (often called salt & chilli or salt & spicy) are amongst the most popular in Chinese takeaways across Scotland. The combination of salty, savoury, sweet & spicy flavours is hard to resist and the range of dishes being given the salt & pepper mix treatment continues to grow.
This salt & pepper seasoning recipe is full of flavour and is the perfect addition to crispy chicken, prawns, chips or mini spring rolls. I prefer to leave the dried chilli flakes out of my salt & pepper seasoning as it allows each dish to be customised according to the preferred spice levels of whoever you’re cooking for.
This spice mix can be used in a variety of dishes including Salt & Pepper Mini Spring Rolls, Chicken in Salt & Chilli and Salt & Chilli Pizza Crunch.
- 4 tablespoons sea salt
- 1 star anise
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons msg
- 1 tablespoon Chinese 5-spice
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1/2 teaspoon mild chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
-
Heat a dry wok over a medium heat. Add the sea salt and star anise and stir-fry for around 10 minutes until the salt changes colour and becomes darker. Be careful not to touch the hot salt, it will get VERY hot. Carefully empty the toasted salt into a heat-proof bowl and set aside for 20 minutes or until the salt has cooled completely.
-
To the bowl of toasted salt, add the sugar, msg, Chinese 5-spice, ginger powder, chilli powder and white pepper. Mix well, transfer the mix to a shaker and store at room temperature until needed.
If you like this Chinese Salt & Pepper Mix recipe, you might be interested in buying my book: The Chinese Takeaway Secret
