Make sure the green beans ... transfer the beans to paper towels to drain. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of oil from the wok and reheat over medium-high heat. Add the Sichuan peppercorns and stir ...

Add the noodles, green beans and remaining sauce. Toss for 2 minutes with two wooden spoons, ensuring that the noodles get some nice caramelisation. Mix the ingredients for the spicy Asian sauce ...

This cold noodle dish requires a bit of preparation if you make your own Sichuan shallot and garlic chilli oil. One batch will last about three months at room temperature, or longer in the fridge.

For the third part of our series on spices, we turn to the Sichuan pepper, famous for its tingling, spicy kick ... and is sometimes called Chinese sansho. The kanji characters for the spice ...