Yesterday I cooked the Tiger-Skin Peppers from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok.

The recipe couldn’t have been simpler: char peppers in a dry wok, remove, stir-fry garlic in oil, add back the peppers, add soy sauce, sugar, and salt.

The recipe calls for “long green hot chiles such as Hatch or Anaheim” but also gives this guidance: “this recipe will work with any green, moderately hot to hot chile, such as Chinese cowhorn chiles, padrón, or even serranos or jalapeños (if you like it real hot).” The grocery didn’t have Hatch or Anaheim, so I went with the Chinese cowhorn which I have experience with in other recipes.

The dish was hot. I definitely needed the rice to temper the spiciness. Some of the pepper flavor came through, but I was generally overwhelmed by the heat. Next time I’ll try to find some milder peppers. I think it will be a nice side dish with the right heat level.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.