Tofu with Hot Bean Sauce (Mapo Tofu)

 November 21, 2024

I’ve been making various versions of this dish since my children were little. They loved it and would request it. I had a good vegetarian tofu dish as well, but that was a hard sell. I think of it as Chinese comfort food. The original recipe came from the superb The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kao, but I’ve tweaked it over the years. Some of the ingredients are probably not in your pantry, but they’re worth seeking out at an Asian market. You can substitute ground beef for the pork, but it will be heavier. Make sure you have every ready before you start cooking as the actual cooking takes very little time.

Ingredients

1 14oz block of extra firm tofu

½ LB of ground pork

An inch long piece of fresh ginger, minced

2 TBS Shaoxing Wine or dry sherry or saki (divided)

2 TBS dark soy sauce (divided)

1 TBS hot bean paste

1 TBS fermented black beans

1 cup chicken stock

2 tsp corn starch dissolved in 1 TBS water

2 tsp dark sesame oil

½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns

2 whole scallions chopped

2 TBS peanut oil

Recipe

Cut the tofu into ½ inch cubes. Place in a large  bowl and cover with hot (not boiling) water while you prep your ingredients. Mince the ginger. Strain the black beans and put them in a cup with one TBS of the wine.

Have two more small bowls ready. In the first, add the other TBS of wine, the hot bean sauce, and 1 TBS of the dark soy sauce. Stir to combine.

In the second bowl, add the other TBS of dark soy sauce, the sesame oil, and the cornstarch in water. Roast the peppercorns for 5 minutes in a skillet on low heat. Crush in a mortar. Chop the scallions and put the scallions and peppercorns on a small plate.

When you have everything ready and nearby heat the skillet over high heat until hot. Add the peanut oil and when it begins to smoke add the pork, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add the ginger to the pan and stir until all the pink is gone from the pork. Add the wine, bean paste, and soy sauce from your first bowl, add the black beans in wine, stir briskly for a minute, add the chicken stock and lower the heat to a simmer.

Drain the tofu well in a colander and add to the pan. Stir gently to even out the pan without breaking the tofu cubes. When it starts to bubble adjust heat so that it keeps a good simmer. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove cover and pour in the cornstarch, dark soy sauce and sesame oil from your second bowl. Give it a big stir and stir  until it thickens, add the scallions and the peppercorns. Serve over white rice (I like Jasmine.) Enjoy!