Mapo Tofu
Total time: 30 minutes (10 minutes preparation, 20 minutes cooking)
Warm and comforting with a hit of spice. Best served with fresh rice.
Most versions of this recipe have significantly less pork mince - my dilemma though was that having the leftover mince in the fridge was such a pain. That's why I adapted this to use the amount of pork typically sold in the supermarket.
Mapo Tofu recipe
Ingredients
Pork mince: 500g
Tofu, regular: 500g
Doubanjiang (fermented spice bean paste): 2 tablespoons
Sesame oil: 1 teaspoon
Cornflour: 1 tablespoonÂ
Spring onion sliced: 1 stalk
Aromatics
Ginger, grated: 1 tablespoon
Garlic, minced: 1 clove
Chilli, sliced: 1 - 2 birds eye chillies
Sichuan peppers: 1 tablespoon
Sauce ingredients
Chicken stock: 1 cup
Soy sauce: 1 tablespoon
Dark soy sauce: 1 teaspoon
Sugar: 1 teaspoon
Vinegar: 1 teaspoon
Method
Heat a wok until it is smoking. Add a little oil and cook the pork mince. Set aside.
Lowering the wok to a medium heat, and oil and cook the aromatics (chilli, sichuan peppercorns, ginger and garlic) for 30 seconds. Add the doubanjiang and continue to cook for another minute.
Add the sauce ingredients chicken stock, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, vinegar) and bring to the boil.
Meanwhile cut the tofu into 2-3 cm cubes and add to the wok. Return the wok to the boil.
Add the pork mince and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.
Add the corn flour to a few tablespoons of cold water and stir to make a slurry. Add this to the work with the sesame oil.
Serve with steamed rice and the sliced spring onions.