Mapo tofu
The first time I cooked mapo tofu, I used Lee Kum Kee’s ready made sauce. Too spicy for my kids. By cooking the dish from scratch–no ready made sauce–I could adjust the spiciness. Now my kids love mapo tofu, especially the silken tofu part. 
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7 Responses to “Mapo tofu”
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This has always been one of my favorite dishes and your recipe looks excellent. Am I correct in assuming that the ingredient “tausi” is Chinese fermented black beans, often transliterated from the Cantonese as “dow see”? I hope so, since I think black beans are an indispensable seasoning to this dish.
I should also mention that this dish is usually finished with a generous sprinkling of roasted and ground Sichuan peppercorns. Not a true peppercorn nor particularly “hot”, Sichuan peppercorns are very aromatic and give a slight “numbing” sensation to the tongue. One of the most important seasonings in Sichuan cuisine, this spice hardly ever seems to find its way into so-called Sichuan dishes served in the States. Curious. Perhaps this is due to the difficulty in obtaining it as a result of a US ban on its importation (Sichuan peppercorns can carry a blight that is harmful to citrus trees). I believe that this ban has been recently lifted. Anyway, ban or no ban, they are available through mail order on the Web.
Your recipe is also notable in that it does not use any thickening agents such as cornstarch or potato starch. Although I dislike Chinese dishes that have been overly thickened by the injudicious use of cornstarch, this is one dish I feel thickening is essential; enough starch must be used until the dish has the consistency of a custard. That’s quite a bit of cornstarch indeed.
Hi Ron. Yes, tausi is fermented black beans. Couldn’t add any visible peppercorns or my kids wouldn’t touch the dish.
Re: thickening. I usually add tapioca starch to stir fries but rarely when using ground meat. For some reason, the natural sauce of the ground meat has enough “body” to dispense with the starch.
[...] The last time I cooked mapo tofu, I used tausi, or salted black beans. It was great although I found the cooked dish a tad too “strong”. I wanted it more mellow, the saltiness less pronounced. So, I substituted salted yellow beans, added minced ginger and some fresh Chinese coriander, omitted the soya sauce and added a few other ingredients… [...]
Hi! I like your recipes because the ingredients are easy to source and the procedures are quite simple and not-difficult to follow. So far I have tried your Beef Brisket, Sweet & Sour Pork, Pork Binagoongan, Beef Kaldereta and other recipes and have been pleased with the results. I’m really looking for more recipes of Chinese dishes, esp. ones that I enjoyed eating at President restaurant in Ongpin, particularly Beef Brisket that’s so tender and the sauce so delectable and tasty–beef na beef, and also the Eggplant with Minced Pork, also in the same resto, the eggplant is unbelievably tender and soo juicy, I haven’t had any other dish of the same kind elsewhere that is as tasty and delicious. Also, I love the Sweet and Sour Pork there. I hope you can oblige my requests. Thank you so much and more power to your blogsite, it’s a treasure! =)
Glenda, they’re all in the archives. Use the search box or click “Chinese” in the list of categories.
Hi,
Could you send me your recipe for Ma Po Tofu, the one without using the Lee Kum Kee sauce. I tried doing it without the ready made sauce and created my own, but i didnt get the results i wanted.
Thanks,
Paula
[...] Mapo tofu [...]