Mapo Tofu

Mapo Tofu is in my all-time Top 5. That’s how much I love it. So I am beyond excited to bring you this Sichuan classic that is everything a great, authentic Mapo Tofu should be – fiery, deeply savoury, unapologetically bold and so incredibly delicious, I almost wept with happiness!

Mapo Tofu

I almost can’t believe this day has arrived! After 20+ years of chasing a Mapo Tofu recipe that truly stacks up to the unforgettable bowls I ate in China, we’re finally here. I’ve ordered it every chance I got in my hometown of Sydney, and I’ve cooked countless recipes at home, always convinced the next one would be the one. But they all seemed to be missing that little something. Lack of flavour punch. Or complexity of flavour.

So how fortuitous it is that we have Chef Hannah at RecipeTin Meals who comes from a multi-generational family of chefs in Sichuan, the birthplace of Mapo Tofu! She’s built quite the reputation over the past year with recipes like Beef in Black Bean Sauce and her Chilli Crisp. And today I’m sharing her recipe for the iconic Mapo Tofu!

My eternal thanks to Chef Xiao (Hannah) Huang – and to the generations of chefs in her family for sharing the secrets to truly great Mapo Tofu with us.

What is Mapo Tofu?

Mapo Tofu is a famous Sichuan dish made with silken tofu gently braised in a fiery, savoury sauce flavoured with chilli bean paste (doubanjiang), Sichuan pepper, minced pork or beef, and aromatics. It’s known for its signature málà flavour – a combination of the tongue-tingling numbing sensation (má) from Sichuan peppercorn and spicy heat from chilli powder (là) – and the soft tofu that melts in your mouth, with layers upon layers of fragrant flavour in the sauce.

It’s one of those dishes that’s impossible to forget once you’ve had a really good one, and perfectly captures everything people love about Sichuan cuisine. For me, as a lover of kapow! flavoured food who is known for regularly wailing, “I need a spicy Asian fix!”, this is about as good as it gets. I am completely and utterly besotted with Mapo Tofu, and I can’t tell you how ridiculously happy I am that I can now make it at home anytime I want. I only waited 20 years for this moment!!!!

Ingredients in Mapo Tofu

Here is what you need to make a truly authentic Mapo Tofu with big, bold Sichuan flavours! There are 3 ingredients that will require a trip to the Asian store that won’t cost much more than $10 in total. Everything else are pantry staples or fresh ingredients from regular grocery stores. The total cost of the ingredients to make this was around A$13, which is far cheaper than eating out – if you can even get Mapo Tofu this good outside of China!

1. MAPO TOFU SPECIALITY INGREDIENTS

These are the 3 ingredients that you’ll need to get from an Asian store. Though if you’ve made my Beef in Black Bean Sauce and Sichuan Eggplant with Minced Pork before, your pantry will already stock them!

Preserved black beans (salted black beans)

These are actually fermented soy beans, not black beans the legume! It is the same salted black beans used in everybody’s favourite Beef in Black Bean Sauce. Called dòu chǐ in Mandarin or dau6si6 in Cantonese 豆豉 (thank you for the language lesson Woks of Life!), they have a texture like firm raisins and adds savoury saltiness into the sauce.

Find them at Asian grocery stores alongside pickled and vac packed vegetables. They cost around $2.70 for the smallest packs. 

No suitable substitute that I can think of. Jarred black bean stir fry sauce doesn’t have nearly the right intensity of flavour.

Chinese broad bean sauce (doubanjiang)

This is a red fermented paste made from broad beans, soybeans, salt, and often chilli. Savoury, salty, and packed with umami! This is another key flavouring in Mapo Tofu sauce. We use the spicy Sichuan version (Pixian doubanjiang) which is a well known brand.

Find it at Asian grocers, it costs ~$3.50 for a 500g/1lb jar, we only use a small amount in this recipe. It’s also used in Spicy Sichuan Pork and Eggplant. Substitute – None that we have tried, sorry!

Sichuan peppercorns (pink)

The cool, numbing, almost lemony spiciness of Sichuan pepper is a signature characteristic of mapo tofu! It’s completely different to the hot spiciness of powders like cayenne pepper and chilli powder (below). Use pink / red sichuan peppercorns if you can as this is the traditional choice (slightly warmer and more rounded flavour), else the regular green ones are fine too (it is a little sharper, but honestly I’d use it in a pinch).

Pre-ground Sichuan powder – In some recipes, I say it’s ok to use pre-ground where it is not a primary flavouring of a dish (like Xinjiang Cumin Lamb Stir Fry). But for Mapo Tofu, it’s such a key flavour that I really urge you to grind your own as it is so different, so much fresher than using pre-ground! Find Sichuan peppercorns at Asian grocery stores (~$3 for a large packet). As for a substitute, I can’t think of anything for this recipe.

2. silken tofu

Tofu is the main event here, so using the right type makes all the difference!

• Silken tofu – The soft, delicate, jiggly silken tofu is a key ingredient in mapo tofu. Find it in tubs labeled “silken tofu” or “silk tofu”, in the refrigerator section.

• Salt – Tofu is, speaking frankly, bland! So getting salt in inside the tofu by blanching it before stir frying is a key step.

• Dark soy sauce – This stains the tofu a light brown colour, lightly seasons it and adds a touch of flavour. We only use the tiniest amount – just 1/4 teaspoon (dark soy is intense stuff!). Substitute with light or regular soy sauce.

3. mapo tofu sauce ingredients

In addition to Sichuan pepper, broad bean sauce and salted black beans, here are the ingredients that flavour the mapo tofu sauce. Pantry staples!

• Chilli powder – This brings spiciness into the dish, it is pure plain dried chilli powder. Not to be confused with US Chili Powder with one “l” which is a Tex-Mex spice blend that is not spicy! If you can’t find chilli powder, use cayenne pepper instead but reduce the amount by half (it’s spicier). Chef Hannah specifically made a batch of Mapo Tofu to check this.

• Smoked paprika – Makes the oil the signature red colour, and adds a bit of background smoky flavour. It can be substituted with regular / sweet paprika.

• Sesame oil – Use toasted sesame oil (brown) not un-toasted (yellow, less sesame,e flavour).

• Light soy sauce – This adds extra salt into the sauce.

• White sugar – Just the smallest amount, to balance the sauce.

4. everything else you need

And here’s everything else you need – the meat (pork or beef), braising liquid, aromatics and sauce thickener. You will be surprised how little pork is used – just 100g / 3.5 oz – but it seems like so much more in the finished dish!

• Pork – Use 20% fat pork mince (ground pork) if you can find it. Some grocery stores in Australia (like large Woolworths in Asian areas) sell pork with the fat percentage specified. But I’ve also made it with lean pork mince and while it won’t go quite as golden when cooked, I really couldn’t tell the difference in the finished dish.

  Beef alternative – Beef is actually the traditional meat used in Mapo Tofu, but pork is widely used as well. I’ve never seen Mapo Tofu with beef. We made it with both, and I prefer pork because it’s softer so it melds with the tofu better.

• Garlic and ginger – A good amount of both! 2 tablespoons of garlic and 2 1/2 tablespoons of ginger. Use a knife to finely mince them, don’t use the garlic crusher or a grater as it makes it wet and pasty so it can’t be sautéed.

• Cornflour/ cornstarch – This is what thickens the mapo tofu sauce and makes it nice and shiny.

• Oil – Use any neutral flavoured oil suitable for cooking. I use canola oil. Vegetable or peanut oil are also suitable.

  The recipe calls for 1/3 cup in total, which I know sounds like a lot! But that glossy layer of red chilli oil floating on the surface is a hallmark of great mapo tofu, so you need this much to achieve it. If you decide the cut down, let’s keep it between you and I – don’t tell Chef Hannah! 😅

• Beef stock/broth – This is the liquid used for simmering the mapo tofu. Use low sodium or unsalted. Full salt will make the sauce too salty.

• Green onion – This is finely sliced then stirred through, for some freshness.

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How to make Mapo Tofu

Once you’ve gathered, chopped and measured out the ingredients, the cooking part is straightforward and takes around 30 minutes. Are you ready to experience the best Mapo Tofu of your life??

1. make fresh sichuan pepper powder

As noted above, there’s nothing like freshly ground Sichuan pepper!! This from the girl who reserves grinding spices for recipes where it genuinely matters. This is one of them!

1. Toast the peppercorns in a small skill (no oil) over medium heat for 2 – 3 minutes until they smell fragrant and some crack open. Take care not to burn them as they will become bitter.

2. Grind – Transfer into a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, then grind into as fine a powder as you can.

3. Sift the powder to remove larger bits of touch husk (discard them).

4. Measure out one teaspoon of powder. This gets added in two parts – half into the mapo tofu, and half sprinkled on the top just before serving.

2. BLANCH TOFU

The purpose of this step is to remove raw beany flavour from the tofu and season the inside. I was skeptical of the necessity of this step so I skipped it once…and regretted it. Chef Hannah knows best! ☺️

1. Simmer the tofu in water with salt and soy sauce for 3 minutes. Don’t worry, the tofu doesn’t fall apart! In fact, the opposite happens – I noticed that after blanching, the delicate silken tofu is a little less fragile.

2. Slotted spoon – Remove the tofu into a bowl using a slotting spoon, then set aside. (Don’t drain in a colander, you’ll get more tofu breakage).

3. MAKE THE MAPO TOFU!

Now that the groundwork has been done, the actual making of mapo tofu is just like making a stir fry, with the addition of a little simmer time. 🙂

If you don’t have a wok, use a medium pot rather than a fry pan or skillet. We don’t want to use something with a large surface area, otherwise the liquid will be too shallow for the tofu to properly braise and absorb flavour (OMG, bland tofu, nooo!!). Plus, the sauce will evaporate too quickly.

1. Golden pork – First, we cook the pork with a little soy sauce until it is golden. Then remove it into a bowl and set aside.

2. Sauté – Next, the aromatics get sautéed to create the flavour base for the sauce. Garlic and ginger first for 1 1/2 minutes, then the salted black beans and chilli bean paste for a good 3 minutes, then lastly the chilli powder and paprika goes in for 30 seconds.

   All this happens on low heat so the garlic and ginger doesn’t burn! Having plenty of oil also helps here. 🙂

3. 10 minute simmer – Add the beef stock, soy sauce and tofu, then simmer for 10 minutes. During this step, the liquid will reduce a bit (but there should still be plenty at the end of this step) and the tofu will absorb all the amazing flavours in the sauce.

   Use a rubber spatula to gently scrape across the base of the wok gently every now and then to make sure nothing is sticking. Don’t stir aggressively, you’ll break the tofu! Also, adjust the heat as needed if it starts bubbling too hard, you want it at an average simmer with constant but not rapid bubbles.

4. Finish – Add the sugar, pork and 1/2 a teaspoon of the Sichuan pepper, and gently stir (I do all my tofu stirring with a rubber spatula, to minimise breakage).

5. Thicken – Mix the cornflour and water together (this is a cornflour slurry) and pour that all over the surface, don’t dump in one place. Then gently stir and simmer for 2 minutes – the sauce will thicken and become shiny.

6. Finish – Stir in the green onion and sesame oil then pour rather than spoon into a serving dish (spooning = more tofu breakage). Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of Sichuan pepper – don’t forget this, a fresh sprinkle really makes the flavours sing.

   And finally, garnish with a little green onion if desired, and serve over rice!

Serving over rice is essential, as it is quite a saucy dish. The way the it soaks into the rice and coats every grain so you get mouthfuls of fluffy steamed rice smothered in that flavour-loaded sauce with the soft tofu that melts in your mouth and little golden nuggets of pork littered throughout….. UGH!! I am torturing myself just writing about it!!!

Well, good thing I have multiple tubs of it my fridge! Fair to say it took a few takes to shoot this, and between Hannah, JB and I developing and testing it, we probably made it close to 20 times. Iconic dishes like this always make me nervous leading up to posting day so there’s always a flurry of remakes to check final things – I think it’s 10 minutes simmer not 15, sauce reduces to much. What happens if people can’t find chilli powder and use cayenne instead, if they use the same amount it will blow their head off! Is pre-ground Sichuan pepper acceptable? Let’s try (ANSWER: No!).

I really hope you get a chance to give this a go. It truly is an iconic dish that you will remember for years to come! – Nagi x

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Watch how to make it

Life of Jaffle

Sometimes, exceptions simply have to be made to the “no dogs on couch” rule……. 🥹

…especially when I caught Jaffle kissing Dozer’s face. Stay there all day if you want, Jaffle! Never mind your muddy belly! 🥰

The Dozer cushion was an incredibly thoughtful gift from a reader. The generosity and kindness of this community never ceases to amaze me.

There was also one with my face on it. My mother sits on it when she’s cranky with me. 😆 💨