Mapo Tofu
Silken tofu in a red, numbing sauce built on fermented chilli bean paste. Minced mushrooms do the job the pork usually does.
- Prep
- 15m
- Cook
- 20m
- Total
- 35m
- Serves
- 4 with rice
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 3 tbsp | Fry the bean paste until the oil runs red 4m Low heat. Doubanjiang scorches fast and turns bitter. | Slide in the tofu and simmer 4 minutes without stirring 6m Push it around with the back of a ladle, never a spatula. | Thicken with the slurry in two additions until the sauce coats a spoon 3m Two small additions, boiling between them. One big pour gives you glue. | Off the heat, shower with ground Sichuan pepper and spring onion 1m Grinding the pepper at the last moment keeps the tingle. Pre-ground goes flat within days. | |
| 2 tbsp | |||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
| 4 cloves | |||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 250 g | Brown the mushrooms hard until they squeak and dry out 8m They must lose their water and take colour or the sauce tastes thin. | ||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 600 g | Steep the tofu in hot salted water for 10 minutes 10m Firms the surface and seasons it from the outside in. | ||||
| 1 litre | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 250 ml | |||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
| 2 tsp | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
-
Fry the bean paste until the oil runs red
4m- neutral oil 3 tbsp
- doubanjiang 2 tbsp
- fermented black beans 1 tbsp
- garlic 4 cloves
- ginger 1 tbsp
- ground dried chilli (optional) 1 tsp
Low heat. Doubanjiang scorches fast and turns bitter.
-
Brown the mushrooms hard until they squeak and dry out
8m- shiitake or king oyster mushrooms 250 g
- neutral oil 1 tbsp
- dark soy sauce 1 tsp
They must lose their water and take colour or the sauce tastes thin.
-
Steep the tofu in hot salted water for 10 minutes
10m- silken or soft tofu 600 g
- just-boiled water 1 litre
- salt 1 tsp
Firms the surface and seasons it from the outside in.
-
Slide in the tofu and simmer 4 minutes without stirring
6m- from 1 Fry the bean paste until the oil runs red
- from 2 Brown the mushrooms hard until they squeak and dry out
- from 3 Steep the tofu in hot salted water for 10 minutes
- vegetable stock 250 ml
- light soy sauce 1 tbsp
- sugar 1 tsp
Push it around with the back of a ladle, never a spatula.
-
Thicken with the slurry in two additions until the sauce coats a spoon
3m- from 4 Slide in the tofu and simmer 4 minutes without stirring
- cornflour 1 tbsp
Two small additions, boiling between them. One big pour gives you glue.
-
Off the heat, shower with ground Sichuan pepper and spring onion
1m- from 5 Thicken with the slurry in two additions until the sauce coats a spoon
- Sichuan peppercorns 2 tsp
- spring onion greens 4
- chilli oil (optional) 1 tbsp
Grinding the pepper at the last moment keeps the tingle. Pre-ground goes flat within days.
Why the tofu gets a salt bath
Soft tofu is mostly water held in a fragile protein gel, and dropping it cold into a boiling sauce shocks the outside into shedding liquid — the cubes break and the sauce goes watery. Ten minutes in salted water near 80°C tightens the surface proteins slightly and warms the centre, so the cubes hold their edges. The salt also drives seasoning inward, which nothing you do later can achieve.
Notes
- The sauce should be glossy and just thick enough to cling — not gluey. Add slurry in two goes and boil between them so you can judge the set.
- Classically this is made with a small amount of coarsely minced beef or pork, fried until the fat renders. Mushrooms browned to dryness give the same savoury weight, but only if you drive off the water first.
- Serve with plain rice and nothing else. The dish is deliberately salty and numbing; a side of anything competes.