Perfect mapo tofu

[Pepper Pig]

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/j ... ity-cloake

[earthmaiden]

Even though it's probably nice, I don't think I'd go to all this trouble to make a meat dish with tofu. Probably because this sort of cuisine has never been a huge part of my domestic life. The link to the veggie/vegan one looks interesting.

[StokeySue]

I quite often make ma po tofu
It’s by no means a “meat dish” - just a couple of TBS of mince to add texture and flavour to the sauce. But as Felicity says, the meat can be replaced, I actually don’t really like the texture, and I never have 40 g of mince to hand so I substitute a couple of dried shiitake mushrooms soaked and quite finely chopped, as recommended by Fuchsia Dunlop in Sichuan Food

A whole tablespoon of Sichuan pepper seems like quite a lot to me.

Here’s Fuchsia’s meatless version, quite similar. But less Sichuan pepper!

[wargarden]

mapo tofu
you replace meat with soy bean and if cook and flavor beans correctly you make great meat substitute.
Like mao's mother did episode of 2 of Cooking Master Boy.
6 uniting factors
heat
aroma
color
heat
numbness
texture

[wargarden]

I just made this today it really has bite and burn if made right.

[StokeySue]

I’ve got the ingredients but didn’t fancy it last night. Will try flavouring the oil with the with the Sichuan pepper as Felicity does

[StokeySue]

Made it last night, Fuchsia’s recipe but I flaavoured the oil with Sichuan pepper as Felicity suggests, which is worth doing. I used a 500g block of tofu, Felicity’s 250g would need a proper veg dish as well as rice to make a meal for 2 imho, which is worth pointing out as I usually find her portions huge. For me 200g per person would be a about right with rice and steamed greens, but if you make it really hot then I guess it would “send down” more rice and you’d need less tofu. I didn’t use all the optional chilli and should have used a bit more

[Pepper Pig]

That looks fab Sue.

[StokeySue]

I realised when I served up the second portion I had far more left than I thought so maybe 250 is only slightly shot rations