Lately, I've been dissatisfied with the chili sauces I find in stores. Many of them taste of preservatives, and almost all have ingredient lists over 10 items long, including MSG or some offshoot. (Yes, I know MSG isn't that bad for you, but if it's a restaurant staple in Beijing I might as well limit the amount consumed at home.) Chili sauce is such a basic blend, yet store-bought brands contain ingredients decipherable only through a Chinese-English chemical compound dictionary.

(Chilis shown larger than real life.)

So recently I decided to buy a bunch of fresh red chilis and make my own sauces. I used the tiny little bird's eye chilis, but you can also use larger red chili peppers for a milder sauce. I donned plastic gloves and spent half an hour mincing my chilis. (Too many painful incidences of having residual chili oil on my hand when removing contacts made me become extra cautious.) That was the only labor-intensive part. Then I just cooked the chilis with yellow rice wine and dark rice vinegar, stir in some sugar, and seasoned it with a little salt. Done.