Mapo tofu is a classic Sichuan style dish with spicy, salty, a little bit numbing and aromatic flavour, this is also one of my favourite Sichuanese dishes that I would cook once in a while at home to enjoy with rice. Authentic mapo tofu usually comes with pork mince, but I find pork mince here always has strong porky smell (do you feel the same?) so I usually cook meatless version by using chopped king oyster mushrooms or soya protein mince to replace pork and it’s still flavourful.
Also do you prefer soft tofu or firm tofu when
having mapo tofu? I like both as I think they all go well with appetizing mapo
sauce. Love the smooth of soft tofu that can melt in the mouth, I also enjoy a
bit chewy and rougher texture from firm tofu. I know it’s hard to choose
between two, however today’s mapo dish is using firm tofu as it’s easy to get
from most supermarkets. (Original recipe by Soac)
Ingredients
-1 block of @cauldronfoods tofu, cut into small cubes.
-75g stewed minced soya protein.素嚕 (Optional.)
-Sichuan pepper. (This can be bought at the UK’s
supermarkets. Adjust the amount to suit your preferred spiciness.)
-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.
-1 tbsp minced ginger.
-2 tbsp Dou Ban Jiang (豆瓣醬) / Soybean paste.
-1 tbsp soy sauce.
-1 tsp sugar.
-1 cup of water.
-1 tbsp flour slurry.
-A handful chopped spring onions.
-chillies and chilli flakes to garnish.
Method
-Put tofu cubes in salted boiling water and cook
for 1 minute, then drain and set aside. (this process is to make tofu less breakable.)
-Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat, add
Sichuan pepper and stir until dark brown (make sure Sichuan peppers don’t
burn), remove pepper and leave chilli oil.
-Sizzle garlic, ginger, and soybean paste in
chilli oil over medium heat until fragrant.
-Add soy sauce and sugar.
-Gently place tofu cubes in and mix well, pour
water and simmer for 10 minutes.
-Add stewed minced soy protein and flour slurry,
leave to boil when sauce gets thicken.
-Sprinkle with spring onions, chilli flakes,
and chillies (optional) on top.
-Serve immediately with rice.
煮麻婆豆腐通常需要豬絞肉，但我覺得英國的豬絞肉味道特別重(豬五花反而比較好)，所以每次自己在家煮麻婆豆腐都是無肉版本，反正只要有豆腐跟豆瓣醬就萬事足(知道英國哪家的豬絞肉比較沒味道的也歡迎推薦給我)。另外麻婆豆腐有人偏好嫩豆腐，有人則喜歡板豆腐，我是覺得兩種豆腐吃起來都各有風味，你喜歡哪一種呢？
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