Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐 (Spicy)

Mapo Tofu

Hello Whimsical Readers,

F~ This week's dish is Tofu! Okay, I know what you're thinking..a block of white gelatin thingy that can substitute meat..yuck*. The thing with Tofu is, its very misunderstood. Its originates mainly from the East and Southeast Asian countries such as China, Japan, Korean, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia etc. Tofu are coagulated soy milk which have been pressed together and voilà! Tofu. To coagulate is to add edible acidic substance for example lemon juice but commercial Tofu producers use mainly salt and acids. So now you know some facts about Tofu.

My inspiration to make a Tofu dish happened in class. We were talking somewhere along the lines of housewives being an "occupation" and suddenly Tofu. Don't ask. The respond my class had about Tofu were like yumm from myself and an asian classmate of mine then yuck, err and "how do you eat that??" I don't blame them since their food knowledge of Tofu is under the exotic asian cuisine. Funny but very true.

Back to Tofu, so tonight I made Mapo Tofu. This is one of the Szechuan specialities, a spicy tofu dish. The secret to an authentic Mapo dish should consists of 7 descriptions; numbing 麻 "Má" , spicy 辣 "là", temperature hot 烫 "tàng", fresh 鲜 "xiān" , soft and tender 嫩 "nèn", aromatic 香 "xiāng" and flaky 酥 "sū". But be warned, the authentic one is seriously spicy. I remembered tearing like Niagara Falls but as we say it "Siok ar!"

So this version of the Mapo Tofu is very tone-downed, you should survive it..Haha

Ingredients: Serves 2 (as maincourse) Serves 4 (as side-dish)
1 Box/ 300 grams Silken Tofu (small to medium cubed)
60 grams Chicken/ Pork (minced)
1-2 fresh Chili (finely chopped)
1 Tsp Garlic (finely chopped)
1 Tbsp Spring Onion (finely chopped)
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
2 Tsp Sesame Oil (for fragrance)
3-4 Tbsp Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce (be warn this sauce can be quite spicy, start with 2 Tbsp and adjust to your spice tolerance)
100ml Water
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce

Method:
1. Once your Cooking Oil is heated in your pan/wok, add the Garlic and let it fry until fragrant.
2. Put in the minced Chicken/ Pork and Chili. Let it cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Now add the Tofu and let the mix cook for about 3-5 minutes. Stirring it gently as you do not want to destroy your nicely cubed Tofu.
4. Turn the flame to a medium, then add Water and the Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce. Close the lid for another 2-3 minutes for the sauce to cook. Here you can opt to add a couple Tsp of Flour if you prefer your sauce to be slightly ticker.
5. Add Salt & Pepper to your liking, just before you serve the Tofu, add the Sesame Oil and Spring Onions and give it a good gently mix to enhance the fragrance.
6. Serve hot and best accompanied with steamed white rice and probably a glass of water at the ready.

Note: I wouldn't recommend using beef because they have a distinct smell which can alter the taste of the dish. (Luckily my mom told me that otherwise mine would have gone wrong since I conveniently had minced beef in the fridge..Haha)

Enjoy!


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies