Recipe

Mapo Tofu

2 generous servings with rice · prep 10 min · cook 12 min

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• lunch
• dinner
• chinese

Authored by the maintainer; Chengdu method, no shortcuts on the doubanjiang.

Ingredients

the body

• 400 g soft silken tofu, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 150 g ground pork (15% fat)
• 3 tbsp neutral oil (peanut or vegetable)
• Pinch sea salt for blanching the tofu — Trapani salt pans

the sauce

• 2 tbsp Pixian doubanjiang (fermented broad-bean chili paste) — Pixian doubanjiang producer
• 1 tbsp douchi (fermented black soybeans), rinsed and chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced — Tropea allium farm
• Thumb of ginger, minced
• 2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, half toasted-and-ground, half whole — Hanyuan Sichuan peppercorn farm
• 1 tbsp Sichuan chili powder (Erjingtiao if possible)
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce — Yuasa shoyu brewery
• 300 ml chicken stock (or water)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp cold water

the finish

• 3 scallions, sliced (whites and greens separated)

Method

1. Bring a pot of water to a bare simmer. Salt it. Slide the tofu in and warm through for 2 minutes — this firms it just enough to survive the stir-fry. Drain gently. · 2 min
2. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add ground pork and break it up with the spatula. Cook until golden and crisp, 3–4 minutes. · 4 min
3. Reduce heat to medium. Push the pork aside. Add doubanjiang to the bare oil and fry until the oil turns deep red, 60 seconds. This is the colour and flavour foundation — don't rush it. · 1 min
4. Add douchi, garlic, ginger, scallion whites, and chili powder. Stir 30 seconds.
5. Pour in the stock. Add soy sauce and the ground Sichuan peppercorns. Bring to a simmer.
6. Slide the tofu in. Tilt the wok to spoon sauce over the cubes — don't stir, you'll break them. Simmer 4 minutes. · 4 min
7. Re-mix the cornstarch slurry and pour in half. Tilt the wok again. If the sauce isn't glossy and clinging, add the rest of the slurry.
8. Off-heat. Scatter scallion greens and the reserved whole Sichuan peppercorns on top.

Notes

Mala — *má* (numbing) plus *là* (spicy) — is the whole grammar of
the dish. The numbing comes from Sichuan peppercorns, not chili.
Skip them and you have a spicy tofu stir-fry; include them and you
have mapo tofu.

The traditional dish is finished with raw scallion greens and a
scatter of whole peppercorns for the diner to crush against the
tooth. Resist plating in a deep bowl — a shallow plate lets the
red oil pool and the white tofu cubes peek through.