Mapo Tofu | 麻婆豆腐
Mapo tofu belongs to traditional Sichuan cuisine, a popular dish in Chinese restaurants all over the world. To make authentic Mapo Tofu, a long list of steps are involved. After many trial and error, I finally come to this recipe, that the steps are reduced, but not the flavors.
Ingredients
Other kinds of starch will serve as well.
STEPS
1.
Season the ground meat with soy sauce. Cut tofu into small tubes. Mince the ginger and garlic into fine pieces. Cut scallion into rings, separate white and green parts. In a small bowl, mix together Pixian County Bean Paste(Doubanjiang) and Douchi . Boil 0.5L water in a kettle.
2.
Heat a wok on high, then add in a drizzle of oil. Add dried chili if you love spice. Add in the ground meat, scallion white, minced garlic and ginger, stir fry and separate the meat pieces apart. Add in Pixian County Bean Paste and Douchi, fully mix with meat.
3.
Add hot water to cover all ingredients. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce to low, keep boiling.
4.
Gently add in tofu cubes. Stew for around 10 min. Rock the wok or gentling stir with spatula from time to time.
5.
Fully dissolve corn starch in 3 tsp water. Add starch solution to into wok, gentling stir with spatula to mix the broth.
6.
Add Sichuan peppercorn flavored oil, or sprinkle with Sichuan peppercorn powder. Transfer to plate and sprinkle with scallion green.
TIPS
Be sure to add just enough water to cover tofu. You will not want to much water or the dish will become thin tofu soup, or you will spend a lot of time boiling the water away.
Corn starch is the key to make the broth thick. Dissolve it beforehand so it can fully mix with water instead of forming lumps.
Pixian County Bean Paste should give enough flavor, if not, you can add soy sauce or salt to taste.Seasoning the meat beforehand can add more flavor, but is optional.
Sichuan peppercorn flavored oil or powder can balance the flavor of meat and add another layer of flavor. Remember to add Sichuan peppercorn powder in the very end, because excessive heat will burn it black. Alternatively, you can add Sichuan peppercorn together with oil in step 3, keep on medium low heat until the flavor is brought out, then discard the peppercorn.