Homemade Mapo Tofu

 

 

Mapo Tofu is a popular dish that originated from Sichuan province in China. It consists of tofu cooked in a spicy chili and bean sauce with minced meat. The first time I ever cooked mapo tofu was in college, from the instant mapo tofu sauce packets made by House, which are super easy to make. However, maybe because I cooked them so much (and so did my friends), eventually I got so tired of the packets that til this day I have never bought another one. A few years ago I found several recipes via cookpad claiming that "once you use this recipe, you can never go back to the boxed kind" or "so easy you will never need to buy the instant kind again" etc. Curious, I tried it, and not only did the mapo tofu come out delicious, but cookpad did live up to it's promise of being easy. Since then, I've tried several other variations from different sites, and this one is my favorite since it tastes most authentically Chinese. I will admit, my mapo tofu is on the mild end of spicy though (since only recently have weak sauce me started acquiring a taste for spicy), and if you've ever seen mapo tofu they are usually drenched in red chili oil. The original recipe uses 2 Tbs of spicy douban sauce, but I adjusted mine to 1/2 Tbs of spicy douban and 1/2 Tbs of regular douban, which was perfectly happy for my palate. However, if you are a spicy lover, feel free to use the original 2 Tbs of spicy douban and also to add hot chili oil at the end.

MAPO TOFU: STEP BY STEP

Heat 1/2 T cooking oil, and heat 1 tsp sechuan peppercorns on medium low heat until fragrant. (Do not use high heat as the peppercorns may get bitter). Remove peppercorns from the pan (Very important! if you don't remove them, you will be biting into hard crunchy peppercorns later...not appetizing at all. Trust me, I learned the hard way)



With the reserved oil, turn up the heat to medium high and add the garlic, ginger, doban sauce and soy sauce and stir fry the mixture together (Pictured Right). Add 1/4C chicken stock to the pan.






Now add the ground meat to the sauce mixture and stir fry until the meat is fully cooked, breaking up the ground meat as you stir




Add all the tofu cubes, turn the heat down to low-medium and stir fry until the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Be gentle with the tofu as you stir so that they don't break.

Once the liquid is cooked off, you are done. Drizzle with a bit of sesame oil (or hot chili oil if you like it extra spicy), sprinkle with sechuan peppercorn powder and serve.



Goes very well with a bowl of steaming hot rice!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Block (14 oz) tofu, drained and cut into 1" cubes (I used firm tofu as they are easier to stir fry without breaking)
• 8 ounces ground meat (I used ground chicken breast)
• 1 tsp sechuan peppercorns
• 1-2Tbs dou ban sauce*
• 1 tsp sugar 
• 1 Tbs soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1.5 Tbs minced ginger
• 1/4C low sodium chicken broth
• Sesame or hot chili oil to taste
• 1 tsp sechuan peppercorn powder (optional)
• Cooking oil

*I used 1/2T regular douban and 1/2T spicy douban, but if you like it on the spicy end, use 1-2T spicy douban 
 
INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Heat cooking oil (~ 1 tsp) on low-medium heat and toast sechuan peppercorns until fragrant. Be sure not to use too high of a heat or else the peppercorns will become bitter. Remove the peppercorns from the pan.
2. Using the oil from step 1, turn up the heat to medium-high and add ginger, garlic, douban sauce and soy sauce and mix together until aromatic (your kitchen should smell like Chinese goodness)
3. Add 1/4C low sodium chicken broth.
4. Add the ground meat to the pan and stir fry until the meat is fully cooked, breaking up the ground meat as you stir.
5. Add tofu cubes and continue stir frying until all the liquid is gone, then you are done!
6. Drizzle sesame or hot chili oil, and add 1 tsp ground sechuan peppercorns for an extra kick if desired.