Spicing Up Your Palate for Weight Loss: 3 Delicious Sichuan Chinese Dishes to Try
The key to losing weight is being careful with your diet. After all, you are what you eat. With that said, spicy foods can temporarily boost your metabolism by up to 8 percent by stimulating thermogenesis in the body. Your local Sichuan Chinese restaurant should offer a large variety of different spicy dishes that will help you achieve your weight loss goals and amaze your palate at the same time. Here are 3 particularly popular dishes you should try.
Shui Zhu Yu for Deliciously Tender Fish
One of the most popular spicy dishes in Sichuan is Shui Zhu Yu, or sometimes known as the Sichuan boiled fish. This dish is served in a pot with tender pieces of fish submerged in a spicy and savoury bean sauce. Different types of vegetables are added as garnishments. By the time that the dish is served, the fish will have fully absorbed the flavours in the soup.
Saliva Chicken for Fiery, Mouth-Watering Chicken
An oddly named dish is the saliva chicken. This dish is known to be one of the top 10 spiciest dishes served in China. Pieces of chicken are marinated in a chilli and sesame oil sauce that contains over 10 different types of unique spices. After getting past the initial fiery sensation, the chicken will leave a lingering herbal and woody aroma in your mouth. The spices will have tenderised the chicken while locking in the juices.
Mapo Tofu for the Health-Conscious
If you're looking to reduce meat consumption, order mapo tofu. You won't regret it. The tofu pieces drenched with the hot and fiery sauce are absolutely tender and will almost melt in your mouth. This dish is usually served with a bit of ground meat and is topped with Sichuan peppercorn powder. This dish really features unique peppercorns that are only found in Sichuan. These peppers are known for their explosive fiery abilities that will numb your tongue and entire mouth. Mix several scoops of mapo tofu with a bowl of rice.
Sichuan is most known for their spicy dishes. Depending on your tolerance for spicy foods, you might want to request the kitchen to cook the dishes in mild spices at first. Work your way up to more spices each time. Eat spicy dishes with rice, as the rice will help absorb the capsaicin in the dishes to dull the fiery sensation for a more enjoyable dining experience.
Authentic Chinese restaurants like Han Palace have any number of dishes you can enjoy even while trying to lose weight.