Ma Po Tofu belongs to Sichuan cuisine.

Ma Po Tofu is one of the famous traditional dishes of Sichuan Province, the main ingredients are tofu and tofu, the main ingredients are tofu, minced beef (you can also use pork), chili peppers and peppercorns. The dish highlights the "spicy" characteristics of Sichuan cuisine, with its unique flavor and smooth texture. It has a unique flavor and smooth texture.

Early Mapo Tofu was made with vegetable oil and yellow beef. The cooking method was to fry a large spoonful of vegetable oil in a pot, then put in a large handful of minced chili peppers, then put down the beef, and then put down the tempeh when it was dry and crispy. Add the tofu, add a little water and a few spatula strokes to blend in, then cover the pan with a lid and reduce the sauce over low heat, sprinkling with the ground pepper before serving.

In the 1960s, when making Mapo Tofu, peanut oil was used for the oil, and beef and pork for the meat. After frying the meat, add bean paste, tempeh, red pepper, soy sauce, salt and sugar, add tofu slices and stock, add green onions, ginger and garlic, thicken the sauce with water, and add pepper and sesame oil before starting the dish. The ingredients and procedures have changed somewhat, and the taste emphasizes numbness, spiciness, hotness and saltiness.

Legends

In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a small restaurant next to the Wanfu Bridge pier in Chengdu, where the owner's wife, Wen Qiaoqiao, was beautiful and clean, while her husband, Chen Chunfu, was known as Chen Pocky to the neighbors because of his pockmarked face. As a result, Wen Qiaoqiao was jokingly called Pocky Chen. The restaurant was famous for serving delicious tofu, so people named the dish "Mapo Tofu".

In the first year of the Tongzhi reign (1862), Ma-Po Chen received many groups of dock workers and footmen. The store was running out of food, and when it was about to close, another group of people came and asked for a dish that would be good for dinner, hot, and inexpensive. With the leftover tofu and minced beef, as well as bean curd and edamame beans, Mawma Chen cooked a colorful, tasty, spicy and hot tofu dish.

The group ate the dish and exclaimed that it was delicious. Later, this dish gradually became the Chen family's signature dish, attracting many people to taste it. Because this kind of tofu is numbing and spicy, the owner's wife also called it Chen Ma Po, and as a result, this tofu dish became known as Chen Ma Po Tofu.