Hey everyone, I hope you’re having an incredible day today. Today, we’re going to prepare a distinctive dish, mapo tofu. One of my favorites. This time, I am going to make it a bit unique. This will be really delicious.
Mapo tofu is one of the most well liked of current trending meals in the world. It’s enjoyed by millions every day. It is simple, it is quick, it tastes delicious. They are fine and they look wonderful. Mapo tofu is something which 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. The best way of serving mapo tofu is simply with steamed rice or noodles. I'd never sliced soft tofu before - it's so easy! two cuts horizontally then slice as on a grid. Very nice texture - creamy and soft.
To get started with this recipe, we must prepare a few ingredients. 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:
- Make ready For the mince meat seasoning:
- Make ready 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- Make ready 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- Make ready 1 cap of Shaoshing Rice Wine
- Get Thickening mapo tofu sauce:
- Get 1 teaspoon corn starch
- Prepare 1-2 tablespoon water (to create a liquid paste)
- Take 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)
- Get 2 teaspoons ginger, finely minced or grated
- Take 2 spring onions, finely sliced (stalk part for cooking, green part for garnish)
- Take 500 g mince pork (or any other mince meat depending on preference)
- Prepare 2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced or grated
- Get 500-600 g medium firm tofu or silken tofu, drained and cut into 3/4 inch cubes (add more or less depending on preference)
- Prepare 1/3 cup frozen peas (add more or less depending on preference), soaked in warm water
- Prepare For the mapo tofu sauce:
- Make ready 2 tablespoons La/spicy Doubanjiang (chilli broad bean paste)
- Make ready 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)
- Get 1-2 teaspoons white pepper
- Take 1-2 cups hot water (from kettle)
- Get Garnish:
- Prepare Spring onions, finely sliced
It consists of tofu set in a spicy sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, based on douban (fermented broad bean and chili paste) and douchi (fermented black beans), along with minced meat, traditionally beef. Variations exist with other ingredients such as water. Mapo Tofu is a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan Province, where spicy food is king and the signature spice of the region–the Sichuan Peppercorn–gives dishes a unique "numbing" effect. It's almost like the Sichuan peppercorns are there to not only add their fragrance and flavor, but also to numb your tongue so it can take more heat!
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.
Mapo Tofu is a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan Province, where spicy food is king and the signature spice of the region–the Sichuan Peppercorn–gives dishes a unique "numbing" effect. It's almost like the Sichuan peppercorns are there to not only add their fragrance and flavor, but also to numb your tongue so it can take more heat! JOC's all-time favorite dish, and it frequently makes it into my dinner menu rotation. We often eat Mapo Tofu as a donburi-style, one-bowl meal for easy cleanup! Mapo Tofu is a classic Szechuan dish that features tofu covered in spices and minced meat.
So that’s going to wrap it up for this exceptional food mapo tofu recipe. Thanks so much for your time. I’m confident you will make this at home. There is gonna be interesting food in home recipes coming up. Don’t forget to bookmark this page on your browser, and share it to your family, friends and colleague. Thanks again for reading. Go on get cooking!
