Hello everybody, it is me again, Dan, welcome to my recipe page. Today, we’re going to prepare a special dish, mapo tofu. One of my favorites food recipes. This time, I’m gonna make it a bit unique. This is gonna smell and look delicious.
Mapo Tofu can be found in almost any Chinese restaurant around the world with hundreds of variations adapting the piquant original to suit local tastes. Marc Matsumoto of NoRecipes shares the story. Mapo tofu is one of the top ten famous Chinese dishes and enjoys a high popularity among not only Chinese people but also many western countries. Personally I like to cook this dish at home from time to time especially in cool seasons such as winter and fall.
Mapo tofu is one of the most popular of current trending meals in the world. It is simple, it is quick, it tastes delicious. It’s appreciated by millions every day. Mapo tofu is something that I have loved my whole life. They are fine and they look wonderful.
To get started with this particular recipe, we have to first prepare a few components. You can cook mapo tofu using 25 ingredients and 8 steps. Here is how you can achieve that.
The ingredients needed to make Mapo tofu:
- Get For the mince meat seasoning:
- Take 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- Take 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- Take 1 cap of Shaoshing Rice Wine
- Prepare Thickening mapo tofu sauce:
- Take 1 teaspoon corn starch
- Take 1-2 tablespoon water (to create a liquid paste)
- Get Making the mapo tofu:
- Get 1 tablespoon cooking oil (or any cooking oil of preference)
- Take 1-2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns (add more or less depending on spice level preference)
- Take 2 teaspoons ginger, finely minced or grated
- Prepare 2 spring onions, finely sliced (stalk part for cooking, green part for garnish)
- Make ready 500 g mince pork (or any other mince meat depending on preference)
- Make ready 2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced or grated
- Make ready 500-600 g medium firm tofu or silken tofu, drained and cut into 3/4 inch cubes (add more or less depending on preference)
- Take 1/3 cup frozen peas (add more or less depending on preference), soaked in warm water
- Make ready For the mapo tofu sauce:
- Make ready 2 tablespoons La/spicy Doubanjiang (chilli broad bean paste)
- Take 1 tablespoons Non-spicy Doubanjiang (broad bean paste)
- Prepare 1-2 tablespoon crushed Yellow bean sauce (add more or less depending on preference)
- Make ready 1-2 tablespoons spicy chilli sauce (or spicy crushed garlic sauce if not using fresh garlic)
- Prepare 1-2 teaspoons white pepper
- Take 1-2 cups hot water (from kettle)
- Take Garnish:
- Get Spring onions, finely sliced
Mapo tofu can also be found in restaurants in other Chinese provinces as well as in Japan and Korea where the flavor is adapted to local tastes. In the west, the dish is often greatly changed, with its spiciness severely toned down to widen its appeal. This happens particularly in Chinese restaurants not specialising in Sichuan cuisine. Poach tofu: Slide tofu into a saucepan of simmering water and keep at a bare simmer while stir-frying rest of dish.
Instructions to make Mapo tofu:
- In a bowl transfer the mince meat and season with white pepper, salt and Shaoshing rice wine. Set aside.
- Finely chop the garlic, ginger and spring onions and set aside. In a wok on medium heat, heat up the oil, add the Sichuan peppercorns and cook until fragment. Then add the ginger and the chopped stalks of the spring onions and stir occasionally to prevent burning. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the mince meat and break it into small grains (to avoid getting clumps) using a wooden spatula. When the meat is almost cooked add the garlic and stir occasionally to avoid the garlic getting burnt.
- When the meat is cooked add both types of doubanjiang stirring to distribute the paste evenly, then add the rest of the sauces. Let it cook for a few minutes so the meat can soak in the flavours of the sauces. Then add the hot water (pre boiled kettle water) and let it simmer. Reduce heat to low for 5 - 7 minutes and cover with lid. Taste the sauce and amend if needed (add more spicy chilli sauce for hotter, white pepper or non spicy doubangjiang etc).
- Gently place the cubed tofu into the mixture. Tip: gently stir and mix the tofu in to avoid it loosing its shape and breaking apart. Let it cook for 1 minute. Lastly, add the peas and gently stir and incorporate into the mixture.
- In a small bowl add the cornstarch and water. Stir well until the mixture has dissolved into a liquid paste.
- Now add cornstarch mixture to wok. Stir everything gently, place a lid on the wok. Leave to simmer and turn the heat to very low heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. Tip: if the mixture is still thin add a little more cornstarch liquid to make the sauce thicker.
- Once the sauce is to desired thickness, to finish off garnish the mapo tofu with the finely sliced green part of the spring onions. Then transfer into a large serving bowl. Eat and and serve immediately while hot. Eat it with a bowl of rice and some side dishes like steamed or panfried vegetables.
This happens particularly in Chinese restaurants not specialising in Sichuan cuisine. Poach tofu: Slide tofu into a saucepan of simmering water and keep at a bare simmer while stir-frying rest of dish. Stir-fry pork: Heat a wok or large heavy skillet over high heat until hot and. Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐, ma po dou fu) is one of the most popular classic Sichuan dishes. It has a spicy, pungent, and appetizing flavor that goes perfectly with steamed rice.
So that’s going to wrap this up with this special food mapo tofu recipe. Thank you very much for reading. I am sure you can make this at home. There’s gonna be more interesting food in home recipes coming up. Don’t forget to save this page on your browser, and share it to your loved ones, colleague and friends. Thanks again for reading. Go on get cooking!
