My Family's Recipe for Szechuan Mapo Tofu

Name: My Family's Recipe for Szechuan Mapo Tofu
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 block Silken tofu; 120 grams Pork shoulder (or ground pork); 1/3 of a stalk Finely chopped Japanese leek; 1 to 2 stalks Garlic scape (or garlic leaves); 200 ml Chicken stock; 1 tbsp ★ Douchi; 1/2 tbsp ★ Doubanjiang; 2 tbsp ★ Tianmianjiang; 2 pinch ★ Sugar; 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine; 1 abou 2 tablespoons of the flour Katakuriko slurry; 1 tsp plus Sesame oil for finishing; 1 Sansho Japanese pepper; 2/3 tsp Vinegar (optional)

cookpad.japan @cookpad_jp

I referred to Chef Masaru Nakagawa's book, and made my own adaptations with vinegar, garlic scapes, sesame oil and doubanjiang. The original recipe called for firm tofu, but I wanted to use silken tofu, so I cut the tofu into pretty large pieces to account for it breaking up a bit, and that went very well.

If you don't have a food processor, use thinly sliced pork shoulder or pork belly, chop up roughly, then bash it with a kitchen knife to finely mince it. If you don't want to bother with this, you can use pre-ground meat too. If you heat the wok with oil (a generous amount, about 1 tablespoon) and toss it out before stir frying, the ingredients won't get burned even if you cook over high heat. The secret of the dish is to add oil for shine and to round out the flavor. Recipe by Ata

cookpad.japan @cookpad_jp

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Ingredients

2 servings

1 blockSilken tofu
120 gramsPork shoulder (or ground pork)
1/3of a stalk Finely chopped Japanese leek
1to 2 stalks Garlic scape (or garlic leaves)
200 mlChicken stock
1 tbsp★ Douchi
1/2 tbsp★ Doubanjiang
2 tbsp★ Tianmianjiang
2 pinch★ Sugar
1 tbspShaoxing wine
1abou 2 tablespoons of the flour Katakuriko slurry
1 tspplus Sesame oil for finishing
1Sansho Japanese pepper
2/3 tspVinegar (optional)

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Steps

1

Roughly grind up the fatty bits of pork in a food processor.
2

Chop up the leek roughly. Cut the garlic scape stems into 4 cmlong pieces.
3

In a pan, bring 500 ml of water to a boil, and add the tofu that's been cut into large chunks, as well as the garlic stems. Take the tofu and garlic steams out just before the water comes to a boils. Attention: if you boil the tofu for too long, it will lose the wobbly pudding-like texture.
4

Heat up a wok over high heat. When the wok is hot add oil, swirl it around and pour out. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok, and add the ground pork from Step 1 and stir fry. When the meat becomes crumbly, add the garlic scape and the ingredients marked with ★ and continue stir frying.
5

Pour in the chicken stock and stir the wok from the bottom so that you get all the flavor that's on the surface. Add the tofu from Step 3. Turn down the heat to low, add the Shaoxing wine, and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
6

Dribble in the katakuriko slurry (2:1 water to katakuriko ratio) from a height, and in a round, circling motion. Swivel the wok and the ladle around at the same time.
7

When the sauce has thickened, add the vinegar and leek.
8

Turn the heat to high, and drizzle in sesame oil around the sides of the wok. Shake the wok so that the oil sinks to the bottom too. Add sansho pepper to taste.
9

Bon appetit.