Chinese mabo tofu is a classic Sichuan dish that is loved for its spicy, savory, and numbing flavors. The dish features tender tofu braised in a sauce made with minced pork, fermented black beans, chili oil, and various seasonings. The result is a complex and flavorful dish that is sure to tantalize your taste buds. In this article, we will explore the history and origins of mabo tofu, as well as provide a comprehensive guide to making this delicious dish at home. We will cover everything from selecting the right ingredients to perfecting the cooking techniques, ensuring that you end up with a dish that is both authentic and unforgettable.
Here are our top 5 tried and tested recipes!
MAPO TOFU RECIPE
Famous Mapo Tofu Recipe From Sichuan Cuisine. Recipe video below.
Provided by Elaine
Categories Main Course
Time 20m
Number Of Ingredients 19
Steps:
- Add a small pinch of salt and ground pepper. Mix well and set aside.
- Cut tofu into square cubes (around 2cms). Bring a large amount of water to a boil and then add a pinch of salt. Slide the tofu in and cook for 1 minute. Move out and drain. This helps to remove the raw soy flavor form tofu.
- Get a wok and heat up around 2 tablespoons of oil, fry the minced meat until crispy. Transfer out and leave the oil in.
- Add another 1 tablespoon of vegetable cooking oil and fry doubanjiang for 1 minute over slow fire until the red turns red (bring us a lovely red color dish) and add fermented black beans, garlic, scallion white and ginger, cook for 30 seconds until aroma. Optionally mix pepper flakes in. Pepper flakes should be added at the end because it contains little water and can be burnt easily.
- Pour in water or stock. Add light soy sauce, sugar and half of the cooked beef (providing more flavors to the soup) after the broth boils and let it continue simmering for 2-3 minutes. Place the tofu in, simmer for another 6-8 minutes. The longer time of simmering helps the tofu to absorb the flavors.
- During the process of simmering, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2.5 tablespoons of water in a small bowl to make water starch. Stir the water starch and then pour half of the mixture to the simmering pot. Back push and wait for around 30 seconds and then pour the other half. You can slightly taste the tofu and add pinch of salt if not salty enough. Add cooked beef to creates some crispy texture and then drizzle sesame oil. Mix well.
- Transfer out when almost all the seasonings stick to tofu cubes. Sprinkle Szechuan peppercorn powder (to taste)and chopped garlic greens if using.
- Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 501 kcal, Carbohydrate 21 g, Protein 22 g, Fat 35 g, SaturatedFat 6 g, Cholesterol 35 mg, Sodium 1072 mg, Fiber 3 g, Sugar 6 g, ServingSize 1 serving
CHINESE MABO TOFU
A simple, delicious Chinese mabo tofu recipe that has been passed on for years. Easy to prepare!
Provided by poshpal
Categories World Cuisine Recipes Asian Chinese
Time 40m
Yield 4
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl; set aside.
- Brown ground pork in a small skillet over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes. Drain fat.
- Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or wok. Cook the garlic and ginger root in the oil until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in tofu and cook for 2 minutes. Season with the soy sauce, hot bean sauce, and sugar; stir to combine.
- Stir in the cooked pork and green onion. Sprinkle with the cornstarch and water mixture; cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir the sesame oil into the thickened mabo tofu.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 267.5 calories, Carbohydrate 8.3 g, Cholesterol 36.7 mg, Fat 17.4 g, Fiber 1.5 g, Protein 22.3 g, SaturatedFat 4.7 g, Sodium 1636.8 mg, Sugar 3.9 g
MABO DOFU
My grandmother's recipe for pork tofu. Serve over white rice.
Provided by sakuraiiko
Categories World Cuisine Recipes Asian Chinese
Time 40m
Yield 4
Number Of Ingredients 11
Steps:
- Heat the sesame oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook and stir the ginger and garlic until the garlic just begins to brown, about 30 seconds. Stir in the pork, breaking it up as you stir, and cook and stir until the pork is browned and broken into small pieces. Add the chili bean sauce, soy sauce, sake, and oyster sauce, stir to mix the ingredients together, reduce heat, and let simmer until the mixture thickens slightly, about 3 more minutes.
- Thin the sauce with water as needed (sauce should not be watery) and gently stir in the tofu. Simmer until the tofu is hot and coated with sauce, about 10 minutes, stirring a few more times. Serve sprinkled with chopped green onion.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 260.2 calories, Carbohydrate 3.3 g, Cholesterol 40.9 mg, Fat 19.5 g, Fiber 0.3 g, Protein 17.2 g, SaturatedFat 5.5 g, Sodium 436.8 mg, Sugar 1.3 g
MABO DOFU - TOFU WITH BEEF
This recipe comes from an English-language Chinese cookbook of my mother's. I have made it...easy and delicious, and better than in the Chinese restaurants. As most Chinese dishes, it is best as part of a meal of a variety of dishes and a group of people. Accompany with Oriental boiled rice. Mabo Dofu (Bean Curd with Ground Beef and Chili Peppers)
Provided by Eduardo Maldonado
Categories Soy/Tofu
Time 20m
Yield 4 side dish servings, 2 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 11
Steps:
- Cut bean curd into bite-sized squares and set aside. Heat oil and fry garlic, chili peppers and chopped leek.
- Add meat. When meat changes color, lightly stir in bean curd, soy sauce and = sugar.
- Cover with lid and cook for 10 min.
- Add cornstarch mixture, allowing it to thicken for a few minutes.
- Turn out into serving dish, sprinkle with the sesame oil and serve hot. EmmaDeer
IRON CHEF CHINESE - CHEF CHEN'S MAPO TOFU
I really respect Iron Chef Chen as a chef. He seems to be a wonderful mentor to many young chefs working under him. He caught my attention as a Iron Chef Chinese on Iron Chef TV program and really enjoyed watching him improvise many recipes. I learned a lot just by watching and copied many of his ideas from the show that I now incorporate into my cooking repertoire. Since then, I've looked for his cookbooks and found 4 in Japanese language. I love all his recipes, especially his famous Mapo Tofu or Mapo Doufu. His dad was a pioneer in introducing Szechuwan cooking to Japanese and he is known as a father of Mapo Doufu in Japan because he was apparently the first Chinese man to cook something so spicy as this dish in Japan. It is now very famous in Japan and Iron Chef Chen Kenichi continues with that tradition at his restaurants in Japan. I wish Chinese and Japanese sauces and other culinary ingredients are known in the West for their proper Chinese and Japanese names like most Indonesian or Malasian sauces ie sambal olek etc instead of using generic names such as bean sauce, etc because it can get very confusing using those generic names. For this dish, you need two Chinese sauces/pastes http://www.foodsubs.com/CondimntAsia.html#bean%20sauce. The first one is Chinese brown bean sauce/paste aka tenmienjan, tenmenjan, or tenmenjiang - it's made from soy beans and sometimes is called Chinese miso type sauce or sweet noodle sauce. It is dark brown in color and has a wonderful dark miso type flavor. The next sauce is Chinese chili bean sauce aka toubanjan or doubanjiang - it has soy beans along with hot chilies and is red color. Don't use regular hot red chili sauce since it lacks the complexity of soy beans found in hot bean red chili sauce. The other two Chinese ingredients you will need for this recipe are fermented black beans (you can usually find these bagged and are ready to use or in bottles) and Szechuwan peppercorn. Szechuwan pepeprcorn is optional though Chef Chen does use it. Chef Chen uses regular tofu (not firm or silken) for his recipe. If you cannot find green garlic chives also known as nira in Japanese, I would use combination green onion and garlic. You want the taste of garlic as well as color of green onion for this dish. Another item that he uses is Japanese chili pepper known as ichimi tougarashi ie crushed or minced red pepper and if you cannot buy this item easily, I would substitute by mincing Chinese, Japanese, Thai, or Korean dry red pepper. This is a very, very spicy version of Mapo Tofu and if you like, cut down on chili pepper and chili oil if you like this recipe milder. However, this dish goes so well with plain steamed white rice that you can eat and eat while your nose is running. I plan to post another of Chef Chen's milder Mapo Tofu recipe using Hoisin sauce in the future.
Provided by Rinshinomori
Categories < 30 Mins
Time 25m
Yield 6 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 18
Steps:
- Cut tofu into 1 inch cubes. Heat enough water in a large saucepan, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and tofu pieces. Bring to boil and cook tofu on medium high heat for 8 to 10 minutes and remove from heat. Precooking tofu in water prevents tofu from breaking apart easily later. Set aside.
- While tofu is cooking, make cornstarch paste by mixing 1 T cornstarch and 1 T water. Set aside.
- Set wok on high heat for 1 minute until hot. Add 2 T vegetable oil and swirl the pan, then add ground pork, stirring to separate.
- When ground pork is browned, add Chinese brown bean sauce ie tenmenjan, tenmienjan, or tenmenjiang, Chinese chili bean sauce ie toubanjan or doubanjiang, fermented black beans, and ichimi tougarashi or minced dried red chili pepper. Continue to cook for 1 minute.
- Add chili oil, drained tofu pieces, chicken stock, garlic chives, soy sauce, and sake. Stir fry gently for 1-2 minutes.
- Add cornstarch paste to thicken and add sesame oil. Swirl gently and cook for another 3-4 minutes on medium high heat. Sprinkle Szechuan peppercorn on top.
- Serve with steamed white rice.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 147, Fat 11.3, SaturatedFat 2.3, Cholesterol 11.1, Sodium 306.4, Carbohydrate 3.7, Fiber 0.2, Sugar 1, Protein 7.9
Tips:
- Choose the right tofu: Use firm or extra-firm tofu for this recipe. Soft or silken tofu will not hold its shape well in the sauce.
- Press the tofu: Pressing the tofu removes excess water and helps it absorb the flavors of the sauce better. To press the tofu, wrap it in a few layers of paper towels and place it on a plate. Place another plate on top of the tofu and weigh it down with something heavy, such as a can of beans or a heavy skillet.
- Cut the tofu into small cubes: This will help the tofu cook evenly and absorb the sauce better.
- Use a good quality ground pork: The quality of the ground pork will make a big difference in the flavor of the dish. Look for ground pork that is fresh and has a good amount of fat.
- Brown the ground pork well: Browning the ground pork will help to develop its flavor. Cook the ground pork over medium-high heat until it is browned all over.
- Use a flavorful sauce: The sauce is what really makes this dish special. Use a sauce that is flavorful and has a good balance of sweet, sour, and savory flavors.
- Serve the dish over rice: This is the traditional way to serve mapo tofu. The rice will help to soak up the delicious sauce.
Conclusion:
Mapo tofu is a delicious and easy-to-make dish that is perfect for a weeknight meal. It is also a great way to use up leftover tofu. With its bold flavors and simple ingredients, mapo tofu is sure to be a hit with your family and friends.
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