#mapo doufu

[dekitateyo]

Was wandering around Akihabara at late hours and ended up entering one of the few restaurants opened until late - that's how I found Ganzen. Fair prices, generous portions, delicious food and cozy atmosphere. I'm definitely coming back here! 

[coffee-et-biscotti]

我爱吃麻婆豆腐。

[dekitateyo]

Mapo Tofu

[マーポー豆腐]

The fiery tofu dish. 

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.

Try out the alternate version with eggplants instead of tofu: Mapo Nasu!

[pandainthecar]

久しぶりに

おてがる麻婆豆腐

20210221

[dekitateyo]

Walked around Oz Street and decided to return to Ramen Jugemu. Ordered a generous mapo tofu set with lots of rice. 

[y2s1-20182019]

Mapo Doufu is one of the well-known Sichuan and China dish by its local and significant taste. In this diagram , it shows how Mapo Doufu and its ingredients relate to the specific region, how each ingredients found in Sichuan, and its condition based on the area.

Mapo Doufu is the typical Sichuan dish which is one of the eight style cuisine of China. The original dish of Mapo Doufu was found in Cheng tu, Sichuan, the South Eastern part of China. Every ingredient of the Mapo Doufu were made in Sichuan region. Sichuan is well-known for producing diverse range of crops and agriculture. Its topography, soil, nutrient, water source, and climate are the condition that made Sichuan farming better than other part of China. However, there’re the variation of this tofu dish in other region by adapt from the ingredients found based on the topography and climate which can be found in the map in the diagram.

[y2s1-20182019]

Mapo Doufu is a  typical dish of Sichuan style cuisine which was found in 1862 during Qing Dynasty period in China. It consists of tofu set in Sichuan Chili Paste (Dou ban Jiang), along with minced pork or beef. People usually use local ingredients which made Mapo Doufu in different region taste different. The best philosophy for mapo tofu is “the simpler, the better”.

The dish was originally made for local people and transport workers.  Tofu is the main ingredient of the dish and was popular in the Chinese dish because it’s cheap and good for health.The way to make Mapo Doufu is to put small cube tofu and minced pork in the Sichuan style stock which includes Dou Ban Jiang (Sichuan chili paste), Sichuan pepper corn, Dousi (fermented black bean), scallion, garlic, cornstarch, and some soy sauce or salt. There was no specific steps to make. The different ingredients may  apply to the dish and create different taste. The original one was powerfully hot and spicy from using Sichuan pepper corn and it special sauce, dou ban Jiang. The chili paste is a bright oily thick paste made from fermented broad beans, fresh chili pepper, wheat flour and salt, and serves as the soul of Sichuan cooking.

[bentothuglife]

Japanese-style Mapo Doufu is a lot less spicy than the original, which makes it much easier for a pepper wuss like me to handle. I've often used the "just add tofu" storebought mixes but this is my first time making it from scratch!