Mapo tofu is one of the most popular Chinese dish in US, but do you know what “Mapo” means? “Mapo” means “old lady with a pock-marked face”. This dish was invented by a lady in Sichuan who really know how to cook tofu. After a long while, people forgot the original name of the dish. Therefore, they simply called it “the tofu from that lady with a pock-marked face”
Interestingly, for very long time, I did not know mapo tofu is spicy, because my mom had been using the bean sauce that is not spicy. It wasn’t until later that I realized the dish is supposed to be spicy, very spicy. Now I love this dish even more.
Ingredients
- 2 cup of ground pork
- 1 box of tofu (medium to firm)
- ½ cup of chili bean sauce
- 1 tsp of Sichuan pepper powder (optional)
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- 1 cup of broth or water
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 tbsp of water
Even though the origin of Mapo tofu is from Sichuan, this dish has been so popular and has been served in all parts of China. Mapo tofu has been around since Qing Dynasty and each region adds their own spin to this dish. In Taiwan, the mapo tofu is sweeter and not as spicy. In some other region, Mapo tofu is SPICY!
First, let’s prepare the ingredients. Mince garlic and ginger and cut the tofu for later use.
Heat up a pan at high heat with 2 tbsp of oil. When the pan is about 300F, add minced ginger and garlic. We have been doing this technique for many dishes already. This step is called “爆香” (pronounce “bao shiang”).
“爆香” is really basic and essential in Chinese cooking. Its literal meaning is “sauté until aromatic” for garlic, ginger, green onion and such. You will find this step in almost all Chinese stir fry dish. This time, we will use the combination of finely minced ginger and garlic as our ‘aromatic’.
After the aroma is out, stir fry your ground pork. Historically, they use beef. However, ground pork is much cheaper, that’s why most of the time you will find that mapo tofu is made of ground pork. You can definitely use ground beef for this dish.
It’s very important that you stir fry the ground pork first until it’s cooked and separate the large chunks so the sizes are even. If you add in any other ingredient that contains water before the ground meat is cooked, the meat will absorb the water and clump together and become chunky. The key to evenly separated ground meat is to stir fry with a little bit of oil but NO water!
After your ground meat is cooked. Add chili bean sauce. You can also add some Sichuan pepper powder to add some taste!
Here is something about chili bean sauce, or many other seasoning you see on the shelf of Chinese supermarket. Unlike those mainstream seasoning like soy sauce where the taste and flavor is pretty similar across brands, the not-so-mainstream seasonings like chili bean sauce or sweet bean sauce can have very different tastes among different brand names. Unfortunately, you can’t always find your favorite brand in a supermarket. Therefore, your ability to “taste” is very important. Use your best judgement to determine how much sauce to add, how much sugar to add, etc. In my case, since my chili bean sauce is more salty. I balance it with a tbsp of sugar.
After you add the sauce and stir fry until it’s even, it’s time to add tofu. After you add the tofu, quickly add in 1 cup of broth or water and bring it to boil. Here is trick for not breaking the tofu apart when you stir: Gently push the ingredients toward the center instead of stirring in all directions. Mix 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 1 tbsp of water in a bowl while you are waiting. Once it starts to boil, add in your cornstarch slurry and mix evenly and bring to boil again.
Now put it on a plate with rice and garnish with some green onion, it’s done!!!
- 2 cup of ground pork
- 1 box of tofu (medium to firm)
- ½ cup of chili bean sauce
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- 1 cup of broth or water
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 tbsp of water
- Mince garlic and ginger
- Dice tofu
- Heat up a pan with medium heat, add 2 tbsp of oil, stir fry garlic and ginger until aromatic
- Add 2 cups of ground pork, stir fry ground pork until it is cooked
- Add ½ cup of the chili bean sauce, stir fry until the color is even
- Add Sichuan pepper powder (optional)
- Add 1 box of diced tofu and 1 cup of broth or water
- Stir carefully by pushing toward the center, bring to boil
- Make the cornstarch slurry by mixing 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 1 tbsp of water
- Garnish with green onions