Hello everybody, I hope you’re having an amazing day today. Today, we’re going to make a distinctive dish, mapo tofu. One of my favorites. This time, I’m gonna make it a bit tasty. This will be really delicious.
Mapo tofu is one of the most well liked of recent trending foods in the world. It’s easy, it is quick, it tastes delicious. It’s appreciated by millions every day. They’re nice and they look wonderful. Mapo tofu is something that I’ve loved my whole life.
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.
To begin with this particular recipe, we have to prepare a few components. You can have mapo tofu using 25 ingredients and 8 steps. Here is how you can achieve that.
The ingredients needed to make Mapo tofu:
- Take For the mince meat seasoning:
- Get 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- Make ready 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- Make ready 1 cap of Shaoshing Rice Wine
- Prepare Thickening mapo tofu sauce:
- Take 1 teaspoon corn starch
- Make ready 1-2 tablespoon water (to create a liquid paste)
- Make ready Making the mapo tofu:
- Prepare 1 tablespoon cooking oil (or any cooking oil of preference)
- Make ready 1-2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns (add more or less depending on spice level preference)
- Get 2 teaspoons ginger, finely minced or grated
- Prepare 2 spring onions, finely sliced (stalk part for cooking, green part for garnish)
- Prepare 500 g mince pork (or any other mince meat depending on preference)
- Prepare 2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced or grated
- Prepare 500-600 g medium firm tofu or silken tofu, drained and cut into 3/4 inch cubes (add more or less depending on preference)
- Make ready 1/3 cup frozen peas (add more or less depending on preference), soaked in warm water
- Prepare For the mapo tofu sauce:
- Take 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)
- Prepare 1-2 tablespoons spicy chilli sauce (or spicy crushed garlic sauce if not using fresh garlic)
- Make ready 1-2 teaspoons white pepper
- Prepare 1-2 cups hot water (from kettle)
- Make ready 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. Mapo Tofu is a classic Szechuan dish that features tofu covered in spices and minced meat.
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. Mapo Tofu is a classic Szechuan dish that features tofu covered in spices and minced meat. It pairs extremely well with rice, and may even be necessary with how spicy it can get. The name literally translates to "pockmarked old lady tofu", inspired by the old lady that made this dish. Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐, ma po dou fu) is one of the most popular classic Sichuan dishes.
So that’s going to wrap it up with this exceptional food mapo tofu recipe. Thank you very much for reading. I am sure you will make this at home. There is gonna be interesting food in home recipes coming up. Remember to bookmark this page in your browser, and share it to your loved ones, friends and colleague. Thanks again for reading. Go on get cooking!
