Mapo Tofu is a simple Chinese dish from Sichuan that Asian households enjoy having for meals, especially since it is so quick and easy to cook. It is spicy, tongue-numbing, flavourful and fragrant. Don’t let its bright red colour scare you, yes, it has a thin layer of oil on the surface but you can adjust this to your liking by reducing the amount of chilli oil used in the recipe. Typically cooked with protein like minced pork or beef, mapo tofu pairs with white rice so perfectly that it is not complete without this accompaniment.
The measurement of the recipe is rather flexible – add more or replace the meat, reduce the chilli paste, oil or chilli padi if you’d prefer lesser spice, add black bean paste (doubanjiang 豆瓣酱) for even better flavours. It’s totally up to your preferences and you can get creative with it!
Add Alchemy Fibre™ For Rice for a healthier meal
Just like many Asian dishes, a dish like Mapo Tofu must be enjoyed with white rice. One way to make your meals with rice healthier is to add Alchemy Fibre™ For Rice when cooking the rice. Doing so will help to increase the fibre content of the meal (10x fibre of regular white rice) and help to lower the glycemic index of rice. Make your meals healthier for you and your family starting today.
Ingredients for Mapo Tofu
Serves: 3-4 pax
120g minced pork
1 block of tofu (300g)
1 tbsp chilli oil
2 tbsp chilli paste (we used Lao Gan Ma)
3 chilli padi
1.5 tbsp light soya sauce
Handful of Sichuan pepper corns
A sprig of spring onion (chopped for garnishing)
Watch method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJulDAy29gE
Instructions
Step 1: Prepare the chilli padi into small pieces and spring onions by chopping them into smaller pieces for garnishing. Then drain tofu and cut the block of tofu into cubes that are approximately 2cm wide and set aside these ingredients.
Step 2: With a bit of oil, toast the Sichuan chilli peppers while stirring occasionally until fragrant.
Step 3: Add minced pork and fry fro a minute before adding the light soya sauce and chilli paste.
Step 4: Continue frying the meat until it is almost fully cooked.
Step 5: Once the meat is almost done, add the tofu cubes and combine the tofu well with the sauce.
Step 6: Lastly, add the chilli oil once the dish is almost ready and stir. Garnish with spring onions before serving over a bowl of piping hot white rice and dig in!
Easy, isn’t it? Try this recipe out and let us know how it turned out for you. If you’re sharing it on your social media, remember to tag us @alchemyfoodtech so that we can see your creations too!
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