Authentic Sichuan Mapo Tofu

Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐) is a popular Chinese Sichuan dish across the world. Spicy, soft-tofu with a slight numbing sensation that will keep you craving for more rice to go with this dish. My Mapo Tofu recipe is easy to cook with very simple ingredients!

What is Mapo Tofu?

It is a Sichuan dish, where the tofu is cooked in spicy broad bean sauce (douban sauce) along with some minced meat and Sichuan Peppercorn (where the numbing sensation comes from).

Mapo Tofu is also translated as “pockmarked grandma’s beancurd”, where it is said that the restaurant who create this dish is located in Chengdu, Sichuan, runs by Pock-Marked Ma herself, the creator of this dish.

This dish was made famous from the television program – Iron Chef, a popular cooking competition in Japan in the 1990s.

Types of Tofu

There are a few types of tofu, in general, they are categorized by their firmness. In this case, we want the outcome to be silken-smooth tofu but still maintaining its shape after cooking, so soft tofu would be the right choice for this dish. I tried before using silken tofu, turns out they are too soft and tend to break apart during cooking, whereas soft tofu turns out to be just great after cooking.

Important Ingredients

Some of the flavor profile of this tofu dish is hot, spicy, and numbing.

The main ingredients that give this dish its unique flavors come from ;

• Douban sauce – Fermented Broad Bean Paste, the more common brand that you can find in your local supermarket shelves is Lee Kum Kee brand.
  

• Douchi – Fermented black bean, widely used in Chinese cuisine, salty and nutty flavor.
  

• Sichuan Peppercorn – Citrusy and numbing sensation, widely used in Sichuan cuisine.

Author have a say…

Mapo doufu or Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐) is a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan province (Also known as Szechuan). Mapo tofu literally translated as “pockmarked grandma’s beancurd”. A variety version of Mapo tofu can be found across the internet. However, the core ingredients remain the same – Sichuan peppercorn, chili douban sauce, and douchi. A Sichuan dish that delivers to you with silken soft pungent tofu, making you ask for more!

Source  :  Wiki

The recipe

Authentic Sichuan Mapo Tofu

★★★★★ 5.0 · 1 rating

A good mapo tofu recipe will need very simple ingredients but still giving you silken smooth hot and spicy tofu with a light numbing sensation that keep you coming for more! Use soft tofu for the best outcome.

Prep

15 min

Cook

30 min

Total

45 min

Course

Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine

Chinese

Keywords

Mapo Doufu, Mapo Tofu Recipe, Sichuan Mapo Tofu, Szechwan Mapo Tofu, Tofu Recipe

−2 people+

US unitsPrint

Ingredients

• 2 blocks Soft Tofu
• 100 g Minced Meat
• 30 g Garlic (chopped)
• 2 tbsp Chili Douban Sauce
• 1 tsp Sichuan Peppercorn
• 1 tsp Douchi
• 300 ml Water
• 2 tbsp Cooking Oil
• 2 tsp Cornflour (potato flour as option)
• Scallion (to garnish)

Instructions

Preparation

1. Chopped garlic.

2. Cut tofu into small cubes of about 1 inch x 1 inch.

3. Prepare the other ingredients.

Cooking

1. Preheat a pan with cooking oil.

2. Add chopped garlic, chili douban sauce, douchi, Sichuan peppercorn.

3. Roughly stir fry on medium heat to mix the condiments together.

4. Add minced meat and stir fry to aromatic fragrance on medium heat.

5. Pour in 300ml of water.

6. Gently add soft tofu in.

7. Bring to a boil and reduce for about 5 minutes.

8. Prepare 2 tsp of cornflour with 50ml of water.

9. Mix the cornflour into the gravy as necessary. Check the thickness of the gravy, you do not want a too thick gravy.

10. Remove from heat and transfer to serving plate or bowl.

11. Sprinkle chopped scallion on top and serve.

Watch how it's made

Watch "Mapo Tofu Recipe | Sichuan Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐秘方 - China Sichuan Food" on YouTube

Nutrition per serving

Calories

391 kcal

Carbohydrates

10 g

Protein

16 g

Fat

30 g

Saturated fat

5 g

Cholesterol

36 mg

Sodium

143 mg

Fibre

1 g

Sugar

1 g

Estimates only.

Questions

What is mapo tofu?

A Sichuan dish of soft tofu cooked in spicy douban sauce with minced meat and Sichuan peppercorn, which gives the numbing feel.

Which tofu is best?

Soft tofu. Silken tofu is too soft and breaks apart during cooking.

What is douban?

Fermented broad bean paste. Lee Kum Kee is a common brand in supermarkets.

Where does mapo tofu come from?

Chengdu, Sichuan. It is said to come from a restaurant run by Pock-Marked Ma.