Zigong Cold-Eaten Rabbit (Leng Chi Tu)

Ingredients

• 1 rabbit, about 1.2kg, chopped through the bone into 2cm pieces
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 30g ginger, sliced
• 500ml rapeseed oil
• 60g dried erjingtiao chillies
• 20g dried facing-heaven chillies, left whole
• 2 tbsp whole Sichuan pepper
• 8 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tbsp Pixian chilli bean paste, chopped
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground roasted Sichuan pepper
• 3 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Before you cook

• Rinse the rabbit pieces and pat them thoroughly dry with kitchen paper.
• Mix the rabbit with the Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, salt and half the sliced ginger, then leave it for 30 minutes.
• Snip the dried erjingtiao chillies into 2cm lengths and shake out most of the seeds.

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat until a slice of ginger dropped in fizzes briskly.
2. Lift the rabbit out of its marinade and pat it dry once more.
3. Fry half the rabbit for 4 minutes, until the pieces are firm and lightly golden.
4. Scoop that batch out onto a tray and let the oil come back up to temperature.
5. Fry the second batch in the same way and lift it out.
6. Pour off all but about 250ml of the oil and turn the heat down to low.
7. Add the whole Sichuan pepper and stir for 30 seconds, until it smells sharp and citrusy.
8. Stir in the remaining ginger, the sliced garlic and the chilli bean paste, and cook gently for 3 minutes until the oil runs red.
9. Tip in all the dried chillies and stir for 2 minutes, keeping the heat low so they toast rather than burn.
10. Return the rabbit to the wok and stir until every piece is coated.
11. Add the sugar and cook on the lowest heat for 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
12. Taste a piece: it should be chewy at the edge and still tender at the bone.
13. Stir in the ground roasted Sichuan pepper, sesame seeds and sesame oil, then turn off the heat.
14. Leave the rabbit to cool completely in its oil, which is when the flavour sinks in.
15. Spoon it into a jar with enough of the oil to cover, and eat it cold — it is better on the second day.