Hey everyone, it is Brad, welcome to our recipe site. Today, I will show you a way to make a distinctive dish, mapo tofu. One of my favorites. For mine, I’m gonna make it a bit unique. This will be really delicious.

Mapo tofu is one of the most well liked of current trending meals on earth. It’s enjoyed by millions daily. It is simple, it is fast, it tastes delicious. They are nice and they look fantastic. Mapo tofu is something which I have loved my entire life.

Mapo Tofu can be found in almost any Chinese restaurant around the world with hundreds of variations adapting the piquant original to suit local tastes. Mapo tofu is one of the top ten famous Chinese dishes and enjoys a high popularity among not only Chinese people but also many western countries. Personally I like to cook this dish at home from time to time especially in cool seasons such as winter and fall.

To get started with this recipe, we must prepare a few components. You can have mapo tofu using 23 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you can achieve that.

The ingredients needed to make Mapo tofu:

1. Prepare For the mince meat marinade:
2. Get 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
3. Get 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
4. Prepare 1 cap of Shaohsing Rice Wine
5. Prepare Thickening mapo tofu sauce:
6. Make ready 1 teaspoon corn starch
7. Get 1-2 tablespoon water (to create a liquid paste)
8. Prepare Making the mapo tofu:
9. Get 1 tablespoon cooking oil (or any cooking oil of preference)
10. Get 1-2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns (add more or less depending on spice level preference)
11. Make ready 2 teaspoons ginger, finely minced or grated
12. Get 2 spring onions, finely sliced (stalk part for cooking, green part for garnish)
13. Get 500 g grams of mince pork (or any other mince meat depending on preference)
14. Get 2 medium garlic cloves, finely minced or grated
15. Prepare 500-600 g medium firm tofu or silken tofu, drained and cut into 3/4 inch cubes (add more or less depending on preference)
16. Prepare 1/3 cup frozen peas (add more or less depending on preference), soaked in warm water
17. Prepare For the mapo tofu sauce:
18. Take 2 tablespoons La/spicy Doubanjiang (chilli broad bean paste)
19. Prepare 1 tablespoons Non-spicy Doubanjiang (broad bean paste)
20. Make ready 1-2 tablespoon crushed Yellow bean sauce (add more or less depending on preference)
21. Get 1-2 tablespoons spicy chilli sauce (or spicy crushed garlic sauce if not using fresh garlic)
22. Get 1-2 teaspoons white pepper
23. Get 1-2 cups hot water (from kettle)

It consists of tofu set in a spicy sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, based on douban (fermented broad bean and chili paste) and douchi (fermented black beans), along with minced meat, traditionally beef. Variations exist with other ingredients such as water. Mapo Tofu is a classic Szechuan dish that features tofu covered in spices and minced meat. It pairs extremely well with rice, and may even be necessary with how spicy it can get.

Steps to make Mapo tofu:

1. In a small bowl add the cornstarch and water. Stir well until the mixture has dissolved into a liquid paste and set aside.
2. Finely chop the garlic, ginger and spring onions and set aside. In a wok on medium heat, heat up the oil, add the Sichuan peppercorns and cook until fragment. Then add the ginger and the chopped stalks of the spring onions and stir occasionally to prevent burning. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the mince meat and break it into small grains (to avoid getting clumps) using a wooden spatula. When the meat is almost cooked add the garlic and stir occasionally to avoid the garlic getting burnt.
4. When the meat is cooked add the both types of doubanjiang stirring to distribute the paste evenly, then add the rest of the sauces. Let it cook for a few minutes so the meat can soak in the flavours of the sauces. Then add the hot water (pre boiled kettle water) and let it simmer. Reduce heat to low for 5 - 7 minutes and cover with lid. Taste the sauce and amend if needed (add more spicy chilli sauce for hotter, white pepper or non spicy doubangjiang etc).
5. Gently place the cubed tofu into the mixture. Tip: gently stir and mix the tofu in to avoid it loosing its shape and breaking apart. Let it cook for 1 minute. Lastly, add the peas and gently stir and incorporate into the mixture.
6. Before adding the cornstarch mixture give it a stir in the bowl to incorporate any of the cornstarch that may have settled at the bottom, and then pour in. Stir everything gently, place a lid on the wok. Leave to simmer and turn the heat to very low heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. Tip: if the mixture is still thin add a little more cornstarch liquid to make the sauce thicker.
7. Once the sauce is to desired thickness, to finish off garnish the mapo tofu with the finely sliced green part of the spring onions. Then transfer into a large serving bowl. Eat and and serve immediately while hot. Eat it with a bowl of rice and some side dishes like steamed or panfried vegetables.

The name literally translates to "pockmarked old lady tofu", inspired by the old lady that made this dish. Mapo Tofu is a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan Province, where spicy food is king and the signature spice of the region–the Sichuan Peppercorn–gives dishes a unique "numbing" effect. It's almost like the Sichuan peppercorns are there to not only add their fragrance and flavor, but also to numb your tongue so it can take more heat! Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Combine sauce ingredients in a bowl; set aside.

So that’s going to wrap it up for this exceptional food mapo tofu recipe. Thanks so much for your time. I’m confident you will make this at home. There’s gonna be more interesting food in home recipes coming up. Remember to save this page in your browser, and share it to your family, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!