5 amala recipes

Ma-la cucumber fans with Szechuan peppercorns, chili flakes, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. A numbing-spicy Chinese cold appetizer with an elegant fan cut.

Honey barbecued salmon with a spicy honey-ketchup glaze featuring curry, jalapeno, and coarse mustard. Grilled fillets served on mache lettuce with a malt vinegar-cilantro dressing.

Texas venison chili browns cubed venison and beef, then simmers them with jalapenos, tomatoes and a masa harina thickener for deep, corn-rich body and real heat. A hearty wild-game chili with black beans.

Szechwan dry-fried beef: shredded steak fried until dark and chewy, then tossed with hot bean sauce, chiles, ginger, and toasted Sichuan peppercorns for that signature mala numbing-spicy heat.

Three pounds of beef chuck simmered for nearly 3 hours with cumin, oregano, jalapeño, and tomato concassé, thickened with a masa harina slurry. No beans, no shortcuts. This is cookoff-caliber chili built on patience and bold spice.