Going through my recipes folder and I just found this very authentic one, from a book by Fuschsia Dunlop, who studied cooking in Sichuan for several years:
[quote]Pock-marked Mother Chen’s beancurd
ma po dou fu
Serves 2-3 as a main course with one vegetable dish and rice, 4 with three other dishes
1 block of beancurd (about 500g)
4 baby leeks or spring onions
100ml groundnut oil
150g minced beef
2½ tablespoons Sichuanese chilli bean paste [Elsewhere in the book she explains that this dou4ban1 jiang4 should be the kind made with broad beans, not soy beans. You can get the proper kind here though the soy bean kind is more common.]
1 tablespoon black fermented beans
2 teaspoons ground Sichuanese chillies (only for chilli fiends)
250ml vegetable stock
1 teaspoon white sugar
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
salt to taste
3 tablespoons potato flour mixed with 4 tablespoons cold water
½ teaspoon ground roasted Sichuan pepper
Cut the beancurd into 2cm cubes and leave to steep in very hot or gently simmering water which you have lightly salted. Slice the leeks or spring onions at a steep angle into thin ‘horse-ear’ slices.
Season the wok, then add the groundnut oil and heat over a high flame until smoking. Add the minced beef and stir-fry until it is crispy and a little brown, but not yet dry.
Turn the heat down to medium, add the chilli bean paste and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, until the oil is a rich red colour. Add the black fermented beans and ground chillies and stir-fry for another 20-30 seconds until they are both fragrant and the chillies have added their colour to the oil.
Pour in the stock, stir well and add the drained beancurd. Mix it in gently by pushing the back of your ladle or wok scoop gently from the edges to the centre of the wok - do not stir or the beancurd may break up. Season with the sugar, a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce and salt to taste. Simmer for about 5 minutes, until the beancurd has absorbed the flavours of the sauce.
Add the leeks or spring onions and gently stir in. When they are just cooked, add the potato flour mixture in two or three stages, mixing well, until the sauce has thickened enough to cling glossily to the meat and beancurd. Don’t add more than you need. Finally, pour everything into a deep bowl, scatter with the ground Sichuan pepper and serve.[/quote]
It’s really good. You might want to cut down on the groundnut oil a little bit, though.
Actually it’s for the meatless version, but gives instructions how to do the normal version as well. Plus it’s written quite nice
If I remember it correctly it’s quite close to the recipe the OP gave, and, honestly, so far I didn’t eat much better ma po tofu than this self-made one
Hey, joesax, with a title like “The best mapo doufu recipe in the world” you really gotta stand by your word!
I will try this one day (without the meat), but with a twist as I’m going to make it gluten-free and meatless. I’ll let you know if it really IS the best mapo doufu recipe in the world!
Jimipresley, if you really want to substitute the meat for something else, you can try gluten (I think it’s called mian4 jin1) . It’s the “fake meat” used in Buddhist vegetarian diets. I know in Taiwan they sell them as fake chicken, fake duck, fake pork, etc. But the crappy thing is THEY ALL TASTE LIKE FREAKIN SOY. Chop it really really finely. Or sub with hard, firm tofu (the dou4 gan1 kind) and chop finely as well. Dou4 gan1 tastes better than the gluten option, imo. I’ve had vegetarian mapo tofu at restaurants and it was just tofu and sauce and was pretty delish without the fake meat, so substitutions aren’t really necessary.
[quote=“914”]Hey, joesax, with a title like “The best mapo doufu recipe in the world” you really gotta stand by your word!
I will try this one day (without the meat), but with a twist as I’m going to make it gluten-free and meatless. I’ll let you know if it really IS the best mapo doufu recipe in the world![/quote]Potato flour’s gluten free anyway, right? What were you thinking of putting in to substitute for the meat? I suppose the closest thing would be TVP. But if I were experimenting, I might roast some nice big field mushrooms, chop them up, and put them in at the last minute.
[quote=“914”]Jimipresley, if you really want to substitute the meat for something else, you can try gluten (I think it’s called mian4 jin1) . It’s the “fake meat” used in Buddhist vegetarian diets. I know in Taiwan they sell them as fake chicken, fake duck, fake pork, etc. But the crappy thing is THEY ALL TASTE LIKE FREAKIN SOY.[/quote]Oh, I think soy tastes much better than that stuff. But it’s really fun to make. You make a dough, let it sit in the fridge for a bit, then take it out and very gradually and carefully wash out the starch in a bowl of fresh water. And actually, I seem to remember that the home-made version tastes better.
Actually it’s for the meatless version, but gives instructions how to do the normal version as well. Plus it’s written quite nice
If I remember it correctly it’s quite close to the recipe the OP gave, and, honestly, so far I didn’t eat much better ma po tofu than this self-made one [/quote]
Lovely. Thanks! :lick:
