Anren Pounded Chillies 安仁抖辣椒
Anren Pounded Chillies is featured among the local specialties of Hunan.
Anren Pounded Chillies (安仁抖辣椒) are cooked chillies crushed in a ridged bowl in Anren (安仁). A wooden pestle breaks them down against the bowl’s closely spaced vertical grooves, blending them with seasonings and optional additions.
How it is made
A December 2021 Da Xiangcai Bao (大湘菜报) feature describes roasting fresh green or red chillies in wood-fire ash, or steaming them, before transferring them to the jiaobo bowl (焦钵). They are pounded with a wooden pestle and mixed with salt, oil, MSG and Anren’s local douyou seasoning (豆油).
How it is eaten
Additions can include preserved eggs, aubergine, salted duck-egg yolk, Chinese allium bulbs, chives, coriander, bean pods, dried shrimp, small dried fish or crisp pork fat. The mixture changes with the eater’s preference.
The aromatic heat makes it a rice accompaniment: an Anren song pairs pounded chillies with white rice and pumpkin soup. The local name dou lajiao (抖辣椒) refers to this pounding action in the bowl.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.