Side Dishes 10: Lahu Sauce

Pound the chili peppers1 into a paste and steam with tianmian sauce. Finely chopped dried shrimp can be mixed into the sauce.

喇虎醬2
秦椒搗爛,和甜醬烝之,可屑蝦米攙入。

Note:
1Sources during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, at the apex of the Qing dynasty, indicated that the Qin pepper (qin jiao 秦椒) mentioned here is actually chili pepper. For example, Yongzheng’s Shandong Instructions (Shandong Tongzhi 山东通志) states that “Qin peppers are red in colour, bear seeds, and as spicy as Sichuan peppers” (秦椒,色红有子与花椒味俱辛).

2There is no meaningful translation for lahu. La 喇 is generally used to express sound though it can be an alternate term for la 辣, or spicy. Hu 虎 means tiger. Maybe it has something to do with the sounds one makes after tasting it. Or perhaps an unknown colloquial phrase how hot something is?

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