Mapo Doufu Madness

While I was in Beijing I had the opportunity to eat mapo doufu, a spicy tofu and meat dish originating from the Szechuan province of China. This dish is quite popular in Japan--but because the Japanese palate is not very tolerant of spicy dishes, the Japanese version is much less spicy. The version I had in Beijing was amazing, to say the least. I have been craving it ever since I got back, so finally decided to do some research and see if I could come up with a recipe that would taste more like what I ate in Beijing. Well, my research was a success, because tonight I made mapo doufu that tasted almost exactly like the dish I had at the restaurant in Beijing.

Fuji Mama’s Mapo Doufu

300 g (10.5 oz. or .6 lb) ground pork
400 g (one package, or about 14 oz.) firm tofu, cubed (about ½ inch cubes)
3 Tbsp. Chili Bean Paste/Sauce (see picture attached)
3 Tbsp. peanut oil
4 tsp. fermented black beans (I used something called Black Bean Garlic Sauce—see picture attached)
1 heaping Tbsp. Sichuan red chilies (I used the dried ones that were in little slices—see picture attached) (you can add more or less depending on how hot you want it)
1 cup chicken stock (unsalted is best)
2 large pinches of sugar
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 1 Tbsp. cold water
1 – 2 Tbsp. Szechuan peppercorns, roasted and ground
4 Tbsp. green onions, chopped

Heat a wok/pan on high heat. When the wok/pan is nice and hot, add the oil. Add the ground pork and stir-fry for about a minute on high heat. The pork should be browned but still have some cooking time left.

With a spatula, move the pork to one side of the wok/pan so the oil can drain back into the middle of the wok. Turn the heat down to medium.

Now add the chili bean paste and stir-fry for 30 seconds. The oil should turn red. Add the fermented black beans and red chilies and stir-fry for another 30 seconds. The oil should be very fragrant from all of the seasonings.

Add the chicken stock and stir it in. Then gently add the cubed tofu to the liquid. Do not stir-fry this too much or the tofu could break apart. Try to hold the wok/pan by it’s handle and gently shake back and forth to reduce breakage to the tofu.

Add the sugar and soy sauce. Turn the heat down and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes.

Depending on how thick the sauce is at this stage, stir in some of the cornstarch-water mixture and turn up the heat to medium. The sauce should start to thicken. Add more of the mixture and cook until the sauce has the consistency slightly more runny than tomato ketchup. It should cling to the tofu nicely.

Take the wok/pan off of the heat and add the green onions, mix. Sprinkle the powdered Sichuan peppercorns on top to taste. Serve over short grain rice.

Notes:
- Check the saltiness before adding the cornstarch mixture. If it needs more salt, add it. If it’s too salty, try adding a bit more sugar and maybe even some chili.
- To prepare the Szechuan peppercorns, spread them on a cooking sheet and put under the broiler for about a minute, but don’t let them burn. Pull them out of the oven and let them cool, and then grind them into a powder with a mortar and pestle (they don’t need to be finely ground, it’s okay if there are some bigger chunks).

My recipe was an adaptation of these 2 recipes:
http://shiokfood.com/notes/archives/000016.html and http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Mapo_Doufu

If you would like to read more about this dish see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapo_doufu

In crafting news, I am just finishing up some needle felting on a felted bag I just finished, so I will show and tell when it is done tomorrow! Today I realized I needed a birthday card to go with a gift for a friend and then realized that I didn't have one, so whipped this sucker up: