Jiuzhou Chicken Chilli

Jiuzhou chicken chilli is the signature dish of the old town of Jiuzhou in Anshun's Xixiu district, made by slow-cooking free-range chicken with sticky-rice chilli, ginger and garlic until the meat is tender and the oil glows red, eaten both as a dish and as a relish.

The dish grows from the campaign-camp food of the Ming Tunpu garrisons; Jiuzhou old town is a key birthplace of Tunpu culture, and chicken chilli carries six centuries of homely Tunpu memory, featured by CCTV's "Taste" programme.

Eaten hot or as a cold plate, it serves as a side dish, a spread for flatbread or a noodle topping, and a must-take local souvenir, with the chicken pieces in the chilli oil holding the deepest flavour.

The fragrant glow of sticky-rice chilli, the tender flavour-soaked chicken and the Tunpu military-camp roots are the hallmarks of Jiuzhou chicken chilli.