Liangfen were formerly also used. The starch is boiled with water and the resulting sheets are then cut into thick strips. "Liangfen" is generally served cold. The "liangfen" strips are tossed with seasonings including soy sauce, vinegar, sesame paste, crushed garlic, julienned carrot, and chili oil. In Lanzhou it is often served stir fried. In Sichuan, a spicy dish called Chuanbei Liangfen is particularly popular (see photo above). Similar foods include the Korean "muk" made with chestnut starch and Japanese konnyaku jelly . "Jidou liangfen", a similar dish from the Yunnan province of southwest China, is made from chick peas rather
Chili powder may vary from mild to very hot. Hot varieties are called "cheongyang-gochugaru", since they are made from hotter cheongyang chili peppers rather than regular Korean reds. Chili powder blends are composed chiefly of chili peppers and blended with other spices including cumin, onion, garlic powder, and sometimes salt. The chilis are most commonly either red chili peppers or cayenne peppers, which are both of the species "Capsicum annuum". As a result of the various potential additives, the spiciness of any given chili powder is variable. The first commercial blends of chili powder in the U.S. were created by D.C. Pendery