Authentic Szechuan style mapo tofu is one of the branding dishes of Szechuan cuisine. Mapo tofu is one of the top ten famous Chinese dishes and enjoys a high popularity among not only Chinese people but also many western countries. Personally I like to cook this dish at home from time to time especially in cool seasons such as winter and fall. Do you love it?
What does Mapo mean?
If you know the Chinese name of Mapo tofu(麻婆豆腐), the answer might be tofu made by mapo or is mapo is kind of flavor. At the very beginning, Mapo tofu is named after its creator.
It is recorded that there is a couple who own a restaurant mainly selling vegetarian dishes. The wife also the cook gets some pock (麻子in Chinese)on her face. Her tofu dishes are quite popular among the guests. However some guests told her that they want to eat some meat rather than just tofu. So she bought some beef and cut it to granules and adding the beef into her tofu. Then the tofu dish with beef become more popular and her guests gave the name: Mapo tofu.Nowadays, along with the popular of this dish, there are many variations for example vegetarian version or pork version. Besides, mapo has becomes a kind of flavor which has also been used in other dishes.
What is mapo tofu made of
Mapo tofu is a dish using tofu with the basic ingredient and usually include minced meat (originally beef but later pork too). The strong combined flavors come from doubanjiang, douchi, soy sauce and chili powder.
Tofu is a good sauce or protein and thus be listed as a healthy food. But it is quite plain and tasteless (even with raw soy flavor), so starch water is used in order to wrap the flavors.
Why it is so popular?
If you visit Sichuan style restaurant, mapo tofu is always the top sellers. And it is also very popular in home cooking. The hot, numbing and aromatic flavor with the silken texture is widely loved. Most of the ingredient used in mapo tofu like doubanjiang, douchi and others are quite common for home cooking. So you can make super good mapo tofu at home with a basic Chinese pantry.
What type of tofu to use
In order to pursue the soft and shapable texture, soft tofu is the best choice. Firm tofu is not good at texture but silken tofu will lose the shape. If you want to try to use silken tofu, I recommend this one pot tofu and egg because there is almost no moving during the cooking process.
How to serve Mapo tofu
Mapo tofu itself is a dish with very strong flavors. When eating along, it might be slightly salty and spicy. So mapo tofu is usually served with plain and tasteless staple food like steamed rice, steamed buns or noodles.
Ingredient tips
- doubanjiang (豆瓣酱), the soul of Sichuan cuisine, is also known as broad bean paste. It is the essential ingredient for real Szechuan mapo tofu. Real Szechuan doubanjiang is full of flavor after long time of fermentation. You can search it in Asian stores or buy from Amazon.
- Dou-chi (豆豉) is also known as fermented black beans. You can try to get some from local Asian market or purchase some from amazon: Chinese Douchi - Fermented Black Beans - 16 Oz Bag Each
. Both of the two ingredients should be slightly chopped before using.
- Freshly grounded Szechuan peppercorn powder (现磨花椒粉)is another important seasoning that highlights the dish. In almost every Szechuan style restaurants, they sprinkle freshly grounded Szechuan peppercorn powder before serving. But it is ok to skip this if you really do not like the numbing taste. But for Szechuan peppercorn lovers, do not skip this step. It will enhance your mapo tofu to another level.
- Garlic greens (蒜苗) is the tender plant of garlic. In Sichuan province, people love to use garlic greens in Mapo tofu instead of scallion green. It is fresh, bright and with a hint of garlicky flavor. But you can use scallion green to replace it.
Cook's Note
- Rinse or soak the tofu cubes in boiling water with a little amount of salt can help to make the tofu tenderer and much strong. So you will not break them.
- During the processing, only back push to avoid destroying the texture of tofu.
- Since both doubanjiang and fermented soy beans are salty, then try the dish before adding any amount of salt.
- During the braising process, use slowest fire to cook the tofu. It will absorb the taste with the help of time.
Instructions
1. Add ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of ground white pepper with minced beef. Mix well and set aside.
2.Cut tofu into square cubes (around 2cms). Bring a large amount of water to a boil and then add a pinch of salt. Slide the tofu in and cook for 1 minute. Move out and drain.
3.Get a wok and heat up around 2 tablespoons of oil, fry the minced meat until crispy. Transfer out beef out and leave the oil in.
4.Add another 1 tablespoon of vegetable cooking oil and fry doubanjiang for 1 minute over slow fire until the red turns red (bring us a lovely red color dish).
5.Add fermented black beans, garlic, scallion white, ginger and fermented black beans to cook for 30 seconds until aroma. Optionally mix pepper flakes in. Pepper flakes should be added at the end because it contains little water and can be burnt easily.
6.Then pour in water or stock. Add light soy sauce, sugar and half of the cooked beef (providing more flavors to the soup) after the broth boils and let it continue simmering for 2-3 minutes.
7.Place the tofu in, simmer for another 6-8 minutes. The longer time of simmering helps the tofu to absorb the flavors.
8.During the process of simmering, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2.5 tablespoons of water in a small bowl to make water starch. Stir the water starch and then pour half of the mixture to the simmering pot. Back push and wait for around 30 seconds and then pour the other half. You can slightly taste the tofu and add pinch of salt if not salty enough. Add cooked beef to creates some crispy texture and then drizzle sesame oil. Mix well.
Transfer out when almost all the seasonings stick to tofu cubes. Sprinkle Szechuan peppercorn powder (to taste)and chopped garlic greens if using. The best way of serving mapo tofu is simply with steamed rice or noodles. The sauce is so good.
Mapo Tofu Recipe
Ingredients
- 450 g soft tofu ,I am using Szechuan tender lushui tofu
- 100 g minced meat-beef or pork
- ½ tbsp. sesame oil
- ½ tsp. salt
- 3 tbsp. cooking oil , divided
- 1.5 tbsp. Doubanjiang ,roughly chopped
- ½ tbsp. fermented black beans ,also known as dou-chi and fermented soya beans, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp. pepper flakes or powder ,optional
- ½ tbsp. Sichuan pepper for making fresh ground powder
- water or broth for braising ,I use 400ml this time
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar ,optional for reducing the spiciness
- 2 scallion whites ,finely chopped
- 4 garlic greens or scallion greens ,finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves ,finely chopped
- 5 ginger slices ,finely minced (around 1 teaspoon)
Water starch
- 2 and ½ tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Serving
- steamed rice for serving
Instructions
- Add a small pinch of salt and ground pepper. Mix well and set aside.
- Cut tofu into square cubes (around 2cms). Bring a large amount of water to a boil and then add a pinch of salt. Slide the tofu in and cook for 1 minute. Move out and drain. This helps to remove the raw soy flavor form tofu.
- Get a wok and heat up around 2 tablespoons of oil, fry the minced meat until crispy. Transfer out and leave the oil in.
- Add another 1 tablespoon of vegetable cooking oil and fry doubanjiang for 1 minute over slow fire until the red turns red (bring us a lovely red color dish) and add fermented black beans, garlic, scallion white and ginger, cook for 30 seconds until aroma. Optionally mix pepper flakes in. Pepper flakes should be added at the end because it contains little water and can be burnt easily.
- Pour in water or stock. Add light soy sauce, sugar and half of the cooked beef (providing more flavors to the soup) after the broth boils and let it continue simmering for 2-3 minutes. Place the tofu in, simmer for another 6-8 minutes. The longer time of simmering helps the tofu to absorb the flavors.
- During the process of simmering, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2.5 tablespoons of water in a small bowl to make water starch. Stir the water starch and then pour half of the mixture to the simmering pot. Back push and wait for around 30 seconds and then pour the other half. You can slightly taste the tofu and add pinch of salt if not salty enough. Add cooked beef to creates some crispy texture and then drizzle sesame oil. Mix well.
- Transfer out when almost all the seasonings stick to tofu cubes. Sprinkle Szechuan peppercorn powder (to taste)and chopped garlic greens if using.
- Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Vegan readers, skip the minced pork or beef. And another choice is to replace the meat with mushrooms either dried or fresh ones to enhance the flavor. Mapo tofu with mushrooms.
Rimmy
Thank you so much for this wonderful recpie, had Mapo Tofu, back in the time, when i was visiting Heifei and loved it so hard, it instantly became my n.1. dish, so i was crawing it.
Made mine for the first time, i am not the best cook, but… finally was able to satisfy my craving.
Elaine
Thanks Rimmy! Happy cooking.
Roger
Thanks for such a delicious and easy recipe Elaine I’ve tried another mapo tofu recipe that was not very successful, but when I saw your recipe, and how I already had all the ingredients at home, I decided to try making it again.
Elaine
Roger,
This is my favorite version of Mapo tofu. There are really lots of details in it. I am so glad that you like it too.
Winni Zhang
Elaine, I only have medium tofu right now. Is that going to be okay? I don't want to make another trip to the store. (By the way, your recipes are amazing. I was born in America but my parents were immigrants. Growing up, I always ate tons of incredibly good homemade Chinese food. Now I live by myself and your recipes have helped me recreate those in my own kitchen and more. Very thankful for these recipes that also explain the history of the dish. It's incredible. I share your recipes with my friends and family all of the time.)
Gabriel
This is another recipe that I will add to my weekly rotation. I love to eat it with raw or steamed vegetables. Thank you Nami for sharing the recipe.
Elaine
Thanks Gabriel!
Margaret
Hi Elaine -
I love your blog!
I found it because I was looking for a recipe for homemade tofu. I've made the tofu four times now, every time perfect and delicious and pure, because I buy organic soybeans.
I was just wondering now, as I was blending the soybeans and water today, how did people make tofu before electricity and blenders? How did your Grandma make it?
Thanks Elaine!
Margaret
Elaine
Margaret,
We have stone miller before the blenders. When I was a child, we use stone miller to make soy milk and tofu. It gets two parts, the upper part and the lower part. There is a small hole in the upper part and soaked beans are added via this hole.
Emma Walker
My mother loves tofu so much, and I usually make her simple tofu with rice. This is the first time I have heard about mapo tofu, which sounds like a variation created for me. Thanks, I love meat, so I would definitely try this.
Elaine
This is one of the best ways of cooking tofu in my mind. Happy cooking!
Elizabeth
Yum Yum. So simple and DELICIOUS! I think I'll try it again tomorrow. So happy I found this recipe. Thanks!
Elaine
Thank you for your wonderful feedback!!
Melissa
ahhh this was sooo yummy and delicious! thank you 🙂 i’ve been using pre packed ma bo and finally decided i needed to make it myself 🙂
Elaine
Thanks Melissa for your wonderful feedback!!
Julie Maxwell
This recipe is perfect! And so easy! I love this recipe, I’ve now made it twice. Do you think this recipe could be frozen? I’m not sure how the tofu will be after, I don’t think I’ve ever froze tofu.
Elaine
No, Julie. Mapo tofu should be served directly after cooking. Freezing can't work.
James
It is spicy, numbing, hot, aromatic and tender. Making the yummiest mapo tofu at home for several bowls of steamed rice.
Elaine
Thank you James for this precise description. Enjoy!