MaPo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)

MaPo Tofu was thought to have originated in the Sichuan province where a boy used to eat a spicy tofu dish from a pockmarked granny, hence the name of the dish. Authentic mapo tofu needs to have the numbing spiciness ‘kick’ to it and this one is of no exception.

Ingredients

• 100g ground pork
• 1 case of tofu
• 30g spicy bean paste
• 15g ground sichuan pepper
• 15g sichuan pepper
• minced ginger
• minced garlic
• sesame oil
• 1 bowl of stock
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 green onion stalk, diced

Instructions

1. in a wok, heat sesame oil in low heat (do not burn the sesame oil) and fry the whole ground sichuan pepper for a little while until fragrant
2. heat a clay pot over medium heat
3. pour oil through a sieve over a bowl with ground sichuan pepper
4. bring a pot of water to boil, add 2% salt
5. blanch tofu (leave in small boiling water)
6. in a work, put little oil, add ground pork and fry until well done and fragrant
7. push pork to the side of pot, add spicy bean paste
8. mix the pork back in, then add ginger/garlic
9. add stock
10. drain tofu from the hot water bath (drain well)
11. add tofu back to the meat mixture (try not to stir too hard from now on so that you don’t break the tofu)
12. let the mixture simmer, add soy sauce, little sugar (let simmer for 5 min)
13. turn heat down a little and prepare corn starch to thicken a little bit (very light)
14. turn off the heat
15. sprinkle diced green onion, drizzle little bit of chili oil, drizzle a little bit of the sesame oil infused with sichuan pepper (not too much)
16. transfer tofu into the pre-heated clay pot