OK, so I have a recipe for crisp stir-fried beef that I'd like to make. The only complexicating factor is the hot bean sauce the recipe calls for. There is an entry for hot bean sauce in the book (see attached pic), and it mentions that it is a Sichuanese condiment, but then says these sauces are "essentially mixes of soybeans and chiles."
Isn't this statement inaccurate? I always thought Sichuanese hot bean sauce (known as dou ban jiang, I believe) had fava beans, not soybeans. The fava beans lend a distinct funkiness to the sauce (more of a paste, actually).
Could I get away using my go-to Sichuan chili bean paste (see last pic) which only uses dried red chili, fava beans, salt, and wheat flour? I've used it to great effect in other Sichuanese dishes, but its flavor profile may not work with the other ingredients for this recipe -- recipe ingredients also attached (see second pic). If that's the case, can anyone recommend a good soybean-based hot bean sauce, preferably without any additives like sugar or food coloring?
Hmm, so what I'm reading here is that it may just come down to a matter of taste (literally and figuratively)! That is, it wouldn't ruin the dish if I used the Pixian paste (the one I pictured, without the oil). Or if I wanted a slightly mellower heat, I could use the hongyou variety that Ordo mentioned.
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