Mapo Tofu

• servings: 4
• active time: 45 min
• total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

Ginger - peeled and thinly sliced

Garlic - five to six cloves, sliced

Green onions - sliced into rounds, keeping greens and white parts separate

Doubanjiang

Douchi or huangjiang or doenjang

Silken Tofu (one package)

Yuba (one package)

Ground beef (one package about 12 ounces)

Chinese cooking wine

Sichuan peppercorns, toasted and ground

Dried chilies, toasted and crushed

Cornstarch slurry

Sugar

Directions

Start by toasting chilies and Sichuan peppercorns on medium low heat for about 15 minutes, until fragrant and oil specks can be observed on the pan.

Meanwhile, prep ingredients - dice tofu, slice yuba, chop up aromatics, make cornstarch slurry, rinse and rough chop douchi (douchi could be substituted with another salty fermented bean product like huangjiang or doenjang but probably not something sweet like gochujiang)

Finely grind Sichuan peppercorns, then use a sieve to separate bigger chunks into a spice ball and reserve the fine powder.

Brown beef on high heat until oil renders out and there are some brown crispy bits.

Push the beef to one side of the pan, and tilt the pan to form a pool of oil.

Add doubanjiang and fry it while breaking it up, until oil becomes red.

Add to the oil douchi, ginger, white part of green onions and garlic in that order, and only after the previous aromatic has crisped up before adding the next aromatic.

At this point, some of it may be stuck to the bottom of the pan and it’s fine as long as it’s not burnt to black, it will be deglazed later.

Stir aromatics together with beef for about ten seconds, then add Chinese cooking wine along the rim of the pan, and mix together.

Add enough hot water (about 1 liter, could also use chicken stock) to cover ingredients, plus a bit more to make room for tofu and account for 15 minutes of evaporation from boiling.

Add silken tofu, yuba, crushed chili peppers and about 2/3rds of the ground Sichuan peppercorn as well as its spice ball.

Bring to boil and let simmer on medium high heat for 15 minutes uncovered.

Take out the Sichuan peppercorn spice ball.

Taste for salt and add pinch of sugar for balance and bringing out umami.

Add in the cornstarch slurry, in three batches, bringing it back to full boil before the next batch, until desired consistency. Take care to not break the silken tofu while mixing, and also fold in the surface fat each time.

Stir in the final third of the ground Sichuan peppercorn, and garnish with green onion.

Notes

This isn’t very spicy, for added spice and authenticity, heat vegetable oil until smoking, and pour it over some red chili powder, and pour in the oil mixture as the final step before garnishing.