Ma Po Tofu

Chinese name: 麻婆豆腐 (má pó dòu fu) Style: Sichuan(Szechuan) Cuisine Characteristics: it is a dish mixed with yellowish-white tofu and reddish brown chili sauce. People often use seven words to describe this dish which are numbing, spicy, hot, fresh, tender, delicious and crispy. The most well-known dish among the spicy and hot dishes of Sichuan Cuisine, ma po tofu is made of soft tofu, ground beef, chopped chili, prickly ash powder and broad bean paste. It is rich in vegetable protein, calcium, phosphorous, iron, vitamins and carbohydrates, featuring an outstanding effect in strengthening the middle burner and replenishing qi (essential energy), removing the poisonous quality of any substance, nourishing the marrow as well as replenishing the essence.

Ingredients: beef, 100 g soft tofu (bean curd cake), 250 g Preparation: Clean the beef and the bean curd with water. Then cut the beef into mince and cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes and put them onto a separate plate.

Seasonings: salt white sugar broad bean paste cooking wine starch (corn or potato starch) soy sauce prickly ash seeds powder chopped green onion chopped garlic Note: the amount of the seasonings listed above can be appropriately measured according to one's personal taste. Meanwhile, please get ready the wet starch for the thickening later.

Methods:

Step 1: Fill half wok water, turn on the heat and pour in the tofu cubes when the water is boiling. Boil the bean curd for 1 minute and then pick them out of the wok, and remove excess water through a colander.

Step 2: Pour away the water in the wok, and place the wok over high heat until hot. Add some cooking oil, swirling to coat sides. Add in the chopped ginger to be stir-fried by high heat for about 10 seconds, add in the broad bean paste and stir-fry them together until smelling fragrant, about 20 seconds.

Step 3: Pour in the ground beef and stir-fried it for about 1 minute on high heat, add in the cooing wine and the soy sauce and stir-fry them together for a furthur 1 minute until the ground beef is 90% percent cooked.

Step 4: Pour in the tofu cubes, add in the salt and white sugar and stir-fried them for about 2 minutes on high heat until all are covered with the seasoning sauce.

Step 5: Add in the previously prepared wet starch flour and stir well for 20 seconds until you feel it is a little bit sticky. This process is mainly to thicken the flavored sauce to stay with the bean curd and the beef.

Step 6: Now, turn off the heat, add in the chopped green onion and the prickly ash powder. Stir them with cooking ladle until they are mixed with the other ingredients in the wok. Then ladle it out of the wok and put it into a fine porcelain plate.

It is done and indeed is an irresistible temptation.

Tips: You can also try Home-style Tofu or Celery and Dry Bean Curd.

History of Ma Po TofuDo you know how ma po tofu got its name? During the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1871-1908) of theQing Dynasty (1644 -1911), a woman named Wen Qiaoqiao pitted from pock-marks in Chengdu City was married to an owner of an oil refinery. Unluckily, after 10 years of marriage her husband died in an accident while carrying oil. After her husband's death, Qiaoqiao and her sister in-law were left poorly off. Her husband's former laborers and her neighbors often took rice and vegetables to assist them. There happened to be a tofu shop and a beef shop on either side of their residence. One day, Qiaoqiao put the ground beef and the tofu together to be stewed into a dish and found it tasted delicious. Then, she asked the neighbors to taste it and almost all of them felt it nice to eat. Thus, she and her sister in-law changed their house into a small restaurant, front part of which was the restaurant and the back part the living quarter. They mainly served the patrons with the stewed tofu with ground beef and built up a good business due to the tastiness of their signature dish and its affordable price. Later, Qiaoqiao hadn't remarried and lived on her small restaurant all the time. After she died, people named the dish as ma po tofu (pock-marked grandmother) to remember her and the name has been used ever since.

source:http://www.travelchinaguide.com/tour/food/chinese-cooking/mapo-tofu.htm