I love mapo tofu from a small child and my mother always cooked this at home with her self-made red oil doubanjiang (chili bean paste). This is a vegetarian version developed from the traditional mapo tofu recipe.
This year, when she visits me, I told her my keen love for the mother style spicy tofu dish. So I get a grift—a large jar of homemade red oil chili bean paste! If you want to know more about this homemade chili bean paste, please kindly check my post—doubangjiang (broad bean paste).
Am I talking about Mapo tofu, then why I go this far to doubanjiang? In fact, doubanjiang is the essential seasoning for making mapo tofu at home. You can find packages on amazon or your local stores. And the most famous brand is Pi Xian doubanjiang.
Usually mapo tofu is cooked with minced pork or sometimes with beef. I make this vegetarian version so that the vegetarian foods can also enjoy it. However I replace the meat part with chopped shitake mushrooms. Why I have to do that? Here is the story.
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.
So I do not want to make this as a simply tofu dish and the chopped shitake mushroom can bring stronger aroma to the final dish.Ops, in case you may dig further into Chinese tofu, please check my post—tofu (bean curd).
Some important tips for ingredients and instruction listed below.
1. For the tofu, I recommend using regular tofu not firm tofu or silken tofu. The taste of firm tofu is not so tenderer but silken tofu is too easy to break. Choose the right type of tofu is a key point here.
2. Soak the tofu cubes in salted water can make the taste tenderer.
3. When stir-fry the tofu cubes, only back push the cubes otherwise the texture might be broken.
4. I use Sichuan peppercorn powder in this recipe, if you do not have some, replace it with the whole sichuan peppercorns or five-spicy powder.
Now let’s begin to make it.
Prepare the ingredients and cut them as below. Make a water starch for the sauce.
Stir-fry ginger, leek onion to stir fry firstly, and then chopped shitake mushrooms.
Add doubanjiang and other seasonings in. Pour in water starch in at the third step.
- 450 g regular tofu
- 6 middle size shitake mushroom , chopped into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon Doubanjiang , broad bean paste
- 1- inch section shallot white
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 inch ginger sliced
- 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn powder
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon starch , tapioca or corn starch
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Cut tofu into squares around 3 cm and chop washed shitake mushrooms. And then slice ginger, chop garlic and cut onion whites into small sections.
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Prepare a container; pour some water with a little amount of salt. Then put the tofu cubes in to soak for about 12 minutes. Then move out and drain.
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Prepare a small bowl, mix starch with water. Set aside.
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Get a wok and heat up oil; add garlic, ginger and shallots in to stir fry until you can smell the aroma. Add the chopped mushrooms in and stir-fry until soft. Remove the mushrooms to one side of your wok.
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Add Doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorn powder; continue frying for 1 minute over slow fire.
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Slide the tofu cubes in, add water and then add soy sauce cook. Simmer for 3 minutes. Toss your wok from time to time. Be gentle during the process and do not break the tofu cubes.
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Add pinch of salt, mix well and serve hot. (You can also sprinkle some chopped spring onions)
Learn Chinese Via Chinese Food Menu
Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 má-pó-dòu-fu dòu-fu means tofu
doubanjiang 豆瓣酱 dòu-bàn-jiàng dòu-bàn(豆瓣) means broad bean jiàng(酱)means paste
Sorry, chicken stock must be omitted to make this vegetarian
Brian, you can use pure water as noted. I am not sorry that I am not vegetarian so I am not so strict with the ingredients.
Brian should know, as a vegetarian, what can be substituted for chicken stock. Brian, your reply came across as harsh. Maybe thank her and ‘offer’ a suggestion. I’m NOT a vegetarian, but I cook vegetarian food for my daughter who’s 17 and I don’t know much…but when a recipe calls for things my daughter won’t eat, I just substitute.
There are also plenty of places that make vegetarian chicken stock, and Massel does vegetarian chicken stock cubes. Really, chicken stock is very easy to substitute in and it be wholly vegetarian.
Thanks for the information Foxy. I am not a vegetarian or vegan so I might make some mistake. Thanks for all the tolerance.
Hi Elaine,
I just want to thank you for the detailed information. I cooked my first mapo tofu at home and it was so great. Good Job! Please keep the excellent recipes coming.
Hi Li,
Thanks for the feedback. And I glad you that have started cooking your own mapo tofu now.
Hi there,
I just finished this recipe and it turned out great! The texture with the mushrooms is spot on. I rounded the meal with steamed broccoli and snow pea tips. What other dishes would you recommend to serve with this one?
G
Hi Gaun,
Thanks for trying my recipe and your feedback. Just for your information, we usually serve this with steamed rice or bread. I understand this is very Chinese way. But sauce tastes really great with grains and cereals.
I just tried this and I really like it! I ommitted the Sichuan peppercorn because I didn’t have it, though, and I used dark soy sauce (I know you said not to, but I had nothing else)…
But my dish doesn’t look like the picture, it’s much drier, and mostly it doesn’t look red like that. So I’m wondering, is this because of the soy sauce I used? I feel like even without the brown soy sauce it would not have looked that red… Or do I need more water?
Thanks for the recipe anyway, I’ll try again, with the right ingredients next time 😉
Hi Maria,
If it looks direr, add a little bit more water. The red color comes from the chili sauce–Doubanjiang. Which brand are you using? And yes, dark soy sauce will influence the appearance. That’s the reason I call light soy sauce in this recipe.
Hello,Elaine
I noticed how different your vegetarian and non-vegetarian mapo doufu-recipes are. For example, there was ginger in the vegetarian one, but none in the non-vegetarian one which had rice wine and douchi while the vegetarian one had no rice ine and no douchi. Why is that?
Best wishes, and thanks for all of these great recipes! I really appreciate your work. 🙂
Hi Bjarni,
Thanks for your kind words and trust. For douchi, I am not sure whether it is vegetarian sincerely. And rice wine is not so essentially for mapo tofu. I am quite sorry for the lack of precision. This vegetarian version is not the traditional version, just a creation of myself.
Ah, ok. Anyway, thank you very much for such a good and quick reply. Best wishes to you! 🙂
I would love a recipe for doubanjiang ! Your recipes are the best, finally I don’t have to go out to have amazing Sichuan food!
Yes, Elena. I have the plan to post a detailed information about homemade Doubanjiang. But there is still several months to wait as we make Doubanjiang in Winter.
Thank you for sharing this!! we love Mapo Doufo and we are vegetarians so it’s great to learn your recipes with a vegetarian/ vegan twist. Thank you!
You are the most welcom, Dany.
Your recipes are awesome
Thanks!
Elaine, this recipe is perfect! I love mapo tofu, but never thought it would be so fast and easy to make. Thank you for all the tasty recipes.
Thank you Pamela for your lovely comment!
Once again another success!
Soft, tender tofu and chewy mushrooms and spiciness…
Thank you Elaine
(we also had the eggplant salad, with tiny eggplants from the market! Delicious! And I could make it ahead of the rest of the meal! )
Thank you Michelle!
Turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks Lynn.
Hoping you’ll respond…the stores in my area (Ohio, US) sell tofu as either “silken”, “firm” or “extra-firm”. Any suggestions as to how to shop?
Use firm tofu.