The origin of this dish can be traced back to the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. Back then, in Wanfuqiao, Chengdu, there was a boss named Chen Fuchun, who was known as a good cook of tofu! People came to his shop with tofu and asked him to cook it. Master Chen's wife had pockmarks on her face, Chen Mapo, Chen Mapo, everyone called her that. Over time, the tofu cooked by Boss Chen was passed down by word of mouth as "Chen Mapo Tofu". Now it is simply called Mapo Tofu, Spicy, Crispy, Fragrant, Fresh and Whole. These seven words fully demonstrate the characteristics of this dish. Among them, "crispy" refers to the minced beef being crispy; "whole" refers to the tofu pieces that should be intact after being cooked.

Ingredients: 200g lean beef, 80g oil, 50g peppercorns, 1 tablespoon Pixian bean paste, 1/2 tablespoon spicy black bean paste, 1/2 tablespoon chili noodles, 1 teaspoon garlic, 200ml stock, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, a little salt or no sugar, a little green garlic (or chopped green onion instead) 1 tablespoon water starch and half a bowl

Steps

1. Heat a dry pan and roast the peppercorns over low heat. If you don’t want it to taste too numb, roast less. . Bake the peppercorns until they become darker in color, but do not bake them into black. Take them out and place them on a chopping board.

2. Use a rolling pin to roll the pressed pepper back and forth until it is broken into coarse powder.

3. You can also use the end of a rolling pin to mash the peppercorns, but leave some coarse particles. Just show it as shown in the picture.

4. Prepare ingredients: mince Pixian bean paste, mince spicy tempeh, mince beef, and prepare the stock (I use frozen chicken stock instead, put it in a pot to heat in advance Set aside), mince a whole head of garlic, and mix in half a bowl of water and starch.

5. Cut the soft tofu into small pieces. Never use old tofu or northern tofu.

6. Pour cold water into a pot and cook the tofu. When the water boils, add a little salt and soy sauce and cook for a few seconds. Remove from the heat and soak the tofu.

7. Pour oil into the pot, add minced beef, stir-fry until crispy, please drain the oil and set aside.

8. Leave the bottom oil in the pot, add Pixian bean paste, tempeh, and chili noodles and stir-fry the red oil.

9. Add minced garlic to the pot and stir-fry for a while, then add broth. The amount of soup can reach half of the tofu. Add beef, and finally add tofu (do not add the soup used to blanch tofu). ). Add a little soy sauce to adjust the color, add a little salt (no need to add salt if the taste is light), add a little sugar to enhance the freshness, simmer over low heat, push the tofu with the back of the shovel and mix the soup well. After the tofu is cooked and flavored, thicken the tofu in three batches and use the back of a cooking spatula to push the tofu to ensure that the tofu pieces are intact.

10. Take it out of the pot and put it on a plate, sprinkle an appropriate amount of pepper powder on the surface, and finally sprinkle green garlic (I don’t sell green garlic here, so I sprinkle chopped green onion).

Tips

1. Authentic Mapo Tofu starts with the mapo, so the pepper powder will be spread all over the plate. When we eat it at home, we just add it according to taste. The reason why I use freshly roasted Sichuan peppercorns is that they are more fragrant. When eaten coarsely, they have a numbing flavor and are particularly delicious. 2. When making Mapo Tofu, you must use soft tofu and beef (no pork, I told you three times). Beef has a lot of tendons, so first smash the meat with the back of a knife or a meat hammer, and then chop into fine pieces. This will make it easy to pick out the tendons. 3. Don’t use ginger in this dish. The recipe at Chen Mapo Tofu Restaurant does not use ginger. The ginger flavor will overpower the aroma. However, this dish uses a lot of garlic and cannot be omitted. 4. Thickening the gravy in three batches is also a traditional method. This kind of gravy can lock in the flavor better.