#mapo doufu

Ground pork and tofu in a very spicy sauce, to be eaten with rice. Often called either mapo dofu or mapo tofu, this recipe is original ultra spicy Sichuan version, much stronger than the usual milder and sweeter Japanese version.

The basis of this sauce is tenmenjan and doubanjiang - respectively, sweet bean sauce and chili bean sauce. Chicken stock is added to the mix to give it more body.

Even though it is a hot dish, I find it quite addictive if you're served a big portion of cooked rice...  I'd say it's a nice call for this cold winter, isn't it? 

Much like curry, you can find dozens of instant sauces for mapo tofu. Last semester I bought a fan made book with hundreds of comments, graphs and reviews on those, I was surprised to see how many variations of instant mapo sauce you can find in Japan (and how much you can write about it) ...

For some reason that I don't understand quite well, I have some trouble reproducing authentic Chinese recipes... they usually end up tasting a little bit different. So take this as a personal variation - tastes good and spicy anyway, hahaha.

Recipe

200g of silky tofu. cut in cubes.

50g of ground pork.

50ml of chicken stock.

1 garlic, minced.

1 thumb of ginger, minced

1tbsp of fermented black beans (douchi)

2tbsp of doubanjiang

2tbsp of tenmenjan

1tsp of sesame seed oil

Chopped scallions (garnish)

Sichuan peppercorn powder (optional)

Steps

Poach the tofu in salted water for around 5 minutes to reduce the excess moisture. Drain and reserve.

Using a wok in high heat, heat some oil.

Add the ginger, the garlic, the doubanjiang, the tenmenjan the fermented black beans and the ground pork.

Stir fry the mix of ingredients briefly.

Add the chicken stock.

Add the tofu.

Cook until slightly uniform.

Add the sesame seed oil.

Serve the dish with rice, chopped scallions and Sichuan peppercorn powder.

Tips

For those unfamiliar with Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan peppercorns makes your tongue a bit numb, making spicy dishes easier to eat. Still, be careful to not harm your mouth/stomach!

Eat this dish with a generous portion of rice, it will also help you greatly dealing with the hot flavor.