Preparations

1. Wash and soak  dried chili peppers in a bowl for 15 minutes.

2. Peel whole garlic.

3. Slice an onion.

Preparations

4. Half green onions.

5. Then, put the peeled garlic cloves into a chopper. Chop them until they are small. 

6. Next, put the soaked dried chili peppers into a chopper. Chop them until they are small. 

Cooking

7. After that, heat up vegetable oil.

8. Until it reaches around 350F. You can use a wooden chopstick to test if the oil is hot enough. When you see little bubbles around the chopstick, the oil is hot enough.

9. Slowly put onion and green onion into the hot oil. (Be careful it will overflow when you put onion, green onion, ginger and other spices into hot oil. I suggest turning off the fire or to very low heat when you add them.)

Cooking

10. Add ginger, star anise, bay leaves and Sichuan peppercorns. Let it cook for 15 minutes, so the fragrance will come out.

11. After that, remove all the spices and put on a plate.

12. The following, slowly add the minced garlic. Stir them once a while and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Cooking

13. After, add the chopped chili peppers and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

14. Lastly, add salt, sugar and soy sauce. Keep stirring them until the salt and sugar is melted. Let it cook for another couple minutes after pouring soy sauce. (Be careful when pouring soy sauce, it may overflow. Turn the fire very low or off when you add soy sauce.)