Extra Tasty Mapo Doufu Recipes

MAPO TOFU

Steps:

• First, we toast the chilies. If you have homemade toasted chili oil, you can skip this step. Heat your wok or a small saucepan over low heat. Add ¼ cup of the oil and throw in the fresh and dried peppers. Stir occasionally and heat until fragrant, about 5 minutes, ensuring that the peppers don't burn. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Heat the remaining ¼ cup of oil in your wok over medium heat. Add the ginger. After 1 minute, add the garlic. Fry for another minute, and then turn up the heat to high and add the ground pork. Break up the meat and fry it until it's cooked through. Add your ground Sichuan peppercorns and stir for about 15-30 seconds, taking care to not let it burn, as it will turn bitter if it does.
• Add the spicy bean sauce to the mixture and stir it in well. Add ⅔ cups of chicken broth to the wok and stir. Let this simmer for a minute or so. While that's happening, ready your tofu and also put a ¼ cup of water in a small bowl with your cornstarch and mix until thoroughly combined.
• Add the cornstarch mixture to your sauce and stir. Let it bubble away until the sauce starts to thicken. (If it gets too thick, splash in a little more water or chicken stock.)
• Then add your chili oil from before-peppers and all! If you are using homemade chili oil, ONLY use the standing oil, as it's likely that you have salted it and you only want the oil, not additional salt. Stir the oil into the sauce, and add the tofu. Use your spatula to gently toss the tofu in the sauce. Let everything cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the sesame oil and sugar (if using) along with the scallions and stir until the scallions are just wilted.
• Serve with a last sprinkle of Sichuan peppercorn powder as a garnish if desired.

MAPO TOFU RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the shiitake mushrooms. Soak for 30 minutes, until completely rehydrated. Remove the mushrooms from the water and reserve the soaking liquid. Coarsely chop the rehydrated mushrooms.
• Dice the tomatoes and green bell pepper. Stem and chop the white button mushrooms.
• In a small bowl, combine the chili garlic paste, black bean with garlic sauce, bean paste, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and sugar. Stir until smooth.
• Dice the tofu into 1-inch (2 ½ cm) cubes.
• In a large skillet or wok, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the rehydrated shiitake and button mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomato and cook until the pepper and mushrooms have softened slightly, 1-2 minutes.
• Add the sauce and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes, until fully combined and fragrant.
• In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and ½ cup (75 G) of the reserved mushroom soaking water until the cornstarch dissolves.
• Add the cornstarch slurry to the pan and cook until the sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tofu and cook until heated through, 2-3 minutes more.
• Serve immediately over cooked white rice.
• Enjoy!

MAPO DOUFU

Steps:

• Place red pepper flakes in a small bowl of hot water. Let soak until softened.
• Heat a wok over medium-high heat until very hot; pour in oil. Add peppercorns; toss briefly until aromatic. Add garlic; stir until aromatic, 10 to 15 seconds. Add ground pork; saute until until browned and crumbly, about 2 minutes.
• Mix doubanjiang and red chile flakes into the pork mixture. Let simmer for about 1 minute. Add tofu and water; gently stir to coat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; let simmer until flavors meld, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and toss in green onions.

EXTRA TASTY MAPO DOUFU

Steps:

• Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven's broiler.
• Spread Szechuan peppercorns over a baking sheet.
• Bake peppercorns under the preheated broiler until toasted, about 1 minute. Let cool; transfer to a mortar and pestle and crush into medium grinds.
• Heat a wok or saucepan over high heat. Add oil; cook ground pork until mostly browned and crumbly, about 1 minute. Move pork to 1 side of the pan with a spatula. Reduce heat to medium. Add chili bean paste; cook and stir until oil turns red, about 30 seconds. Stir pork into oil.
• Mix black bean sauce and dried chiles into the pork mixture; cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Stir in chicken stock. Add tofu gently; shake pan back and forth until tofu is coated in sauce but not broken, about 2 minutes. Add soy sauce and sugar. Reduce heat to low; let simmer, about 5 minutes.
• Mix cornstarch in a small bowl with 2 tablespoons cold water. Increase heat to medium. Add to the tofu mixture, 1 teaspoon at a time, until sauce is almost as thick as ketchup and clings to the tofu, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in the green onions. Sprinkle toasted peppercorns on top.