I ask bc the one time I had my mind set on making my own, I asked a customer at one of our Asian markets what I would need to get. She laughed and said she uses the premade sauces, of which there is an abundance available.
I find those work really well with the ground meat (or shrooms/fermented pickled mustard greens if ya wanna keep it vegetarian) of one’s choice 
I think I posted a lamb version somewhere in this thread.
Its a pretty easy sauce if you have the spicy chili sauce. I buy ground pork meant for stuffing at the local butcher.
Agreed. I make my own as well (with minced mushrooms instead of pork).
I have all manners of spicy sauces, many of them of Sichuan provenance. I don’t think I have the là dòuban jiàng, unless it’s somewhere in the basement.
This looks like a promising recipe:
This is the recipe I use, as well as one if a fuschia dunlop book. I’ve also done the vegan version with oyster mushrooms that is in the Ottolenghi COMFORT book.
I made Fuchsia Dunlop’s Dan Dan noodles, but meatless, swapping in a mix of fresh and dried shiitakes, along with chopped zha cai in place of the usual preserved vegetable. We liked this a lot and didn’t really miss the beef!
Anyone familiar with using green Sichuan peppercorn at home?
I just picked up some oil, reading that it was fresher-tasting and more numbing than red.
I’ve come across the green in restaurants mostly with fish, but apparently this should be good with some of the salads I’ve been experimenting with.
Mapo tofu with mushroom
Hot & sour eggplant
These are two old friends, and it was good to see them again!
