How to Cook Mapo Tofu

Mapo tofu is a representative dish of Sichuan cuisine. It is very popular in China and well known in the West. Legend says that Mapo tofu was created by a pock-marked old woman (麻婆, ma po) about 140 years ago. There are many ways to cook Mapo tofu. Here is one of them. If you like spicy food, please follow it and have a try!

Mapo Tofu

Ingredients

  • 400g tofu, 50g ground beef, 20g garlic and 30g green garlic
  • Seasonings: 50g cooking oil, 15g soy sauce, 10g yellow rice wine, 30g chili broad-bean paste, 20g salty black beans, 2g salt, 2g chicken powder, 5g starch and 300ml broth

Note: The amount of the seasonings listed above can be adjusted according to personal taste.

Preparation

  • Clean and dice the garlic and green garlic to small pieces.
  • Mix starch with about 6ml water.

Cooking Instructions

  • Cut tofu into 2-cm cubes. Put tofu cubes into about 80°C saline water and soak about 15 minutes. Remove the cubes from the water.

    • Mapo Tofu

  • Heat wok and fry ground beef with cooking oil. When the ground beef browns, add the chili broad-bean paste and stir-fry both together. When the chili broad-bean paste smells fragrant, add the salty black beans and continue stir-frying. Add the diced garlic to the stir-fry when the salty black beans smell fragrant.

    • Mapo Tofu

  • Add the yellow rice wine and fry evenly for a few seconds. Pour in the broth. After the broth boils, add soy sauce and salt.

    • Mapo Tofu

  • Add the tofu cubes and boil for five minutes. Add some chicken powder to freshen the palate.Pour the starch water into the wok to make the dish thick. At the same time, scrape the bottom of the wok so the tofu does not stick.

    • Mapo Tofu

  • When the starch gelatinizes, dish out the Mapo tofu. Add the diced green garlic. The tasty dish is finished!

    • Mapo Tofu

Hi, I'm Ruru Zhou
I updated this article on September 10, 2012
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