Mapo Tofu

[Sullybob]

I discovered this dish about a year ago here in Austin at a Chinese market/restaurant called Asia Cafe. It's a little hole in the wall place and they serve really good food. Since the first time I ate mapo tofu I thought it would be great if I could make it at home. I stumbled across recipe for it on the NPR site of all places.

I've never cooked with Sichuan peppercorns before I and thought they were going to be hotter. The numbing effect they had on my mouth was not something that I was expecting. I didn't have any doubanjiang chile bean paste, I used sambal oelek as a substitute.

With some modifications this recipe is a keeper. Next time I'll use triple or quadruple the amount of everything but the pork, and I'll at least double the tofu. I didn't remove the black seeds from the sichuan peppercorns, I didn't see any black seeds. I'll also add way more sichuan peppercorns next time. I made two recipes in two different pans because my youngest son doesn't eat spicy food and I wasn't sure if my oldest son was going to be able to eat it either. I used double the sichuan peppercorns in the spicy version and the spicy dish wasn't very spicy.

Have any of you gent's cookd this dish? Do you have any pointers for me? Is this recipe missing anything?


Here's a link to the recipe.

• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons potato starch (halve if using cornstarch)
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons minced ginger
• 4 green onions white part only, minced
• 1 tablespoon fermented black beans, roughly chopped (black bean paste will also work)
• 1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, black seeds removed then ground (optional)
• 6 ounces ground pork
• 2 teaspoons doubanjiang (chili bean paste)
• 14 ounce block of silken tofu, drained and cut into 3/4” cubes
• green part of green onions minced for garnish

Directions

• Add the chicken stock, cornstarch, soy sauce and sugar to a small bowl and stir to combine.
• Heat a wok or large frying pan until very hot. Add the sesame oil, garlic, ginger and green onions and stir-fry with a spatula until fragrant. Add the black beans and Sichuan pepper and continue stir-frying.
• Add the ground pork and use the spatula to break it up into small grains (you don’t want clumps of meat). When the pork is cooked, add the doubanjiang and stir to distribute. Add the tofu, and toss to mix (if you stir it, the tofu will lose its shape).
• Give the stock mixture a good stir to incorporate anything that may have settled, and then pour it over the pork and tofu. Toss to coat, then boil until the sauce thickens.
• Garnished with the green parts of the green onions, then serve with hot rice.

Ignore the fish sauce in the picture.

 

[PR1977]

That looks really good! Now I'm starving. I guess if there was one thing you could do differently, rather than doubling the peppercorns, add a thin sliced Thai chili or similar hot pepper. I think more peppercorns wouldn't exactly make it spicier, but just add more of the mouth numbing quality that those peppers possess. I'm impressed with the array of ingredients you have on hand there!

Also, a good website for ingredient substitutions and definitions is http://www.foodsubs.com/ It has a search, and also includes links and recipes for making things from scratch.

 

[Sullybob]

Nice avatar PR1977.

Thanks for the link to foodsubs it looks really useful. The only ingredients I didn't have on hand were the fermented black beans, tofu, and ground pork.

 

[YetiDave]

Here's a recipe from Sichuan Cookery, aka Land of Plenty. I've tried it and it's great -

1 block of beancurd (about 500g)
4 baby leeks or spring onions
Groundnut (peanut) oil
150g minced beef
2 1/2 tbsp Sichuanese chilli bean paste (I use this http://www.fuchsiadunlop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/p1070249.jpg)
1 tbsp fermented black beans
2 tsp ground Sichuanese chillis, cayenne would probably work well as a substitute
250ml chicken stock - traditionally no salt is added to a Sichuanese stock, so you may need to add less chilli bean paste to balance out the salt levels
1 tsp white sugar
2 tsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp potato flour mixed with 4 tbsp cold water
1/2 ground, roasted Sichuan pepper

1. Cut the beancurd into 2cm cubes and leave to steep in very hot or gently simmering water which you have slightly salted. Slice the leeks or spring onions at a steep angle into 'horse-ear' slices
2. Add groundnut oil to a wok and heat until smoking. Add the minced beef and stir fry until it is crispy and a little brown, but not yet dry
3. Turn the heat down to medium, add the chilli bean paste and stir fry for about 30 seconds until the oil is a rich red colour. Add the fermented beans and ground chillies and stir fry for another 20-30 seconds until they are both fragrant and the chillies have added their colour to the oil
4. Pour in the stock, stir well and add the drained beancurd. Mix very gently to avoid breaking the beancurd. Season with the sugar and soy sauce then leave to simmer for about 5 minutes until the beancurd has absorbed the flavour of the sauce
5. Add the leeks or spring onions and gently stir in. When they are just cooked, add the potato flour mixture in two or three stages, mixing well until the sauce has thickened enough to cling clossily to the meat and beancurd. Finally, pour everything into a deep bowl, scatter with the ground Sichuan pepper and serve

 

[ouch]

Really nice effort!

I would suggest a firmer tofu, as the silken can fall apart and turn to mush.

Sichuan peppercorns were illegal in the states for a long time. They really don't have too much flavor, and are nice for dips. Toasting them was a good suggestion.

Try to add some dark soy- it's less salty than regular soy sauce and gives a great color.

Hot sauce (in this case chili paste) has to provide two things: heat and flavor. There are hundreds of preparations that will provide heat, but few offer a genuine and appropriate flavor. My choice is Har Har hot bean paste.

 

[Sullybob]

Thanks for the tips Jay. I'll see if I can find that Har har hot bean sauce.

 

[YetiDave]

I'd look for something more traditionally Sichuanese than Har Har - it should be broad beans rather than soy beans in the paste

 

[ouch]

Thanks for the tips Ray. I'll see if I can find that Har har hot bean sauce.

Ray?

 

[Sullybob]

Ray?

Sorry, Jay. I'm not sure where Ray came from.

 

[ouch]

Sorry, Jay. I'm not sure where Ray came from.

 

[ironfist]

Looks nice

 

[The Nid Hog]

Hey Shawn, that looks great. I've been making the Japanese version of this for years, and I recently transitioned to the Chinese one. I think that the Sichuan peppercorns make a world of difference in flavor.

Here are a couple of variations you might want to try:

—Instead of serving it with steamed rice, try ramen. I usually buy frozen Japanese ramen (forget the dried stuff) but I've found some similar fresh Chinese noodles that work too. Thin your mabo dofu sauce with chicken stock and serve in a bowl with boiled noodles.

—Try making it with eggplant instead of tofu. Use half a dozen Japanese eggplants. Slice them into quarters lengthwise and sautee. Add them to the mabo sauce that you've made, but leave the tofu out. You can also add some thinly sliced, sauteed carrot.

 

[Sullybob]

Thanks for the tips Chris. I was thinking of trying it with some type of noodle. I made it more saucy than the recipe called for so that we could spoon it over rice.

Jay, I picked up a bottle of Har Har hot bean sauce, thanks for the recommendation. That sauce smells and tastes much better than the sauce I was using.

 

[Sullybob]

Here is my second attempt at mapo tofu. The har har hot bean sauce made a huge difference in the flavor. I can't tell if toasting the Sichuan peppercorns did much to improve the flavor, I toasted about a cup of the peppercorns and then buzzed them up in my spice grinder. I intentionally made more sauce then the recipe called for, it's great on rice.



This is my dish plated up. I added more hot chili oil to mine.

View attachment 298679

 

[JoshuaNY]

I am not a big fan of tofu, I eat it once a year to make sure I still don't like it. But that looks pretty good. Maybe I am eating the wrong kind prepared the wrong way.

 

[ouch]

Glad you liked it. I find that it adds a good depth of flavor, and can singlehandedly transform a pedestrian recipe into one of authentic taste.

You can try dropping the szechaun peppercorns altogether. They really don't add much flavor, but they do look nice floating on the top of a dipping sauce or a hot and sour soup.

Tofu is a great ingredient. It's like a sponge, and will soak up whatever flavors you use. It's even healthy!

Edit: By the way, that sauce would work well over a plate of noodles, should you ever be with tofu.

 

[YetiDave]

Szechuan pepper doesn't add much flavour? I don't know what kind you're using but the stuff I get is highly aromatic and packed with flavour, along with that great numbing sensation that pairs so well with the burn of chillies

 

[The Nid Hog]

Szechuan pepper doesn't add much flavour? I don't know what kind you're using but the stuff I get is highly aromatic and packed with flavour, along with that great numbing sensation that pairs so well with the burn of chillies

I think I get more aroma and sensation from it than flavor per se. But I think that works well when you are using other spices. It adds a really unique depth to the dish.

 

[Alacrity59]

I'm a fan of tofu. We have it at breakfast in what I would call tofu Florentine. Fried firm tofu with sliced peppers, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, spinach, green onions, and oregano. It also finds its way into stir fry and soups.

 

[Sullybob]

I don't get a lot of flavor from the Szechuan peppers, I do get the mouth numbing sensation and a lot of aroma. Toasting the peppers for my second batch really helped, maybe separating the peppers from the seeds will make the flavor more potent.


That sounds great Mike.