When I first made these chopped salted chiles from Fuchsia Dunlop's book Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province, I didn't have much of an idea of how I'd be using them. But salting and preserving food is always a good idea, so off I went. At the very least, I figured, this is a great way to keep "fresh" chiles on hand. Without salting, chiles would mold and rot. The salt allows you to hold them for months.

A few weeks later, they were ready to go, and so was I. Back into Fuchsia's book to see which recipes call for them. Apparently, a bunch do!

About 1 pound of spicy chiles

They've come to be indispensable around here. I made yet another 1 pound batch, since I was going through the initial batch so quickly. A tablespoon here, a few tablespoons there. Months? This jar won't last weeks.

Here are a couple of dishes from the book that were stupid easy (they're all pretty easy), super delicious, and used these salted chiles. You should cook these:

Red-braised bream (red snapper, in this case)

Fisherman's Shrimp with Chinese Chives

Home-style Bean Curd