Cooking At Home With Jason: Ma Po Tofu

Photo by Jason Brechin

by Jason Brechin

Chinese food is everywhere.  Just last month another new Chinese restaurant opened up along Neil Street (in the space formerly Papa George, formerly Pickles) that I heard was supposed to be really good.  I’ve heard that it’s run by the people who owned The Wok in Mahomet, a place which I have heard nothing bad about.

I grew up eating a lot of the really Americanized dishes, like egg foo young, but I love the more complex flavors of traditionally-made kung pao chicken or ma po tofu.  My problem is that I don’t speak Chinese and I don’t know enough about traditional dishes to know what is best to order in some roundabout way.  I’ve heard people say you can describe something and they’ll make suggestions, but I’ve had little luck with this in the past.  So here I am, stuck with the overly-sweetened, often bland versions that restaurants serve to the public when all I want is some more authentically Chinese food.

The problem here is that it’s hard to get traditional versions of these dishes that don’t have added sugar, too much soy sauce, and handfuls of celery (a cheap filler for sure, but no thank you).  Learning to make these dishes at home will not only give you control over what goes into them, but you can make them cheaply with authentic ingredients in less time than it would take to get it delivered.

Ma po tofu (mapo doufu) is a classic Sichuan (Szechuan) dish available in many Chinese places.  Don’t let the name fool you… it’s not vegetarian.  As traditional as it is, you can find all the ingredients in just about any grocery store with an ethnic aisle.  It’s generally made from browned ground meat (usually pork) in a spicy sauce with tofu.  We really like the creamy texture of soft tofu, but use firm if that’s what you can find.  If you’ve got dietary restrictions, you could use some ground meat substitute, or use beef, chicken, or turkey if pork just won’t do.  I almost always have a log of ground meat in the freezer that I can pull out for something like this, and since it’s a pound, it’s what we use.  A more traditional version would use half as much.

Ma Po Tofu
serves 6

Here, more than many dishes, the ingredient list is a guide.  If you like it spicy, add more chili paste.  If you love garlic or ginger, add more.  If you have some more vegetables to add, go for it!  Adjust the amount and consistency of the sauce with more or less corn starch and water.

• 1 pound of ground pork (or 1/2 to be more traditional)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 T ginger, minced
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and julienned
• 1-4 T chili-bean paste (tobanjang or dou ban jiang), see Note, below
• 1 T corn starch
• 2 T soy sauce (or tamari)
• 1 1/2 t sesame oil
• 1/2 cup cool water
• 1 block (14 oz.) soft tofu, drained and cut into 1/2 in cubes
• 1/3 c green onions, sliced thin
• sichuan peppercorns, ground (optional, but traditional)

1. Brown the pork in a large saute pan, breaking it up into small pieces.

2. Add in the garlic, ginger, and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally for a minute or two.

3. Add the chili-bean paste and stir to distribute.

4. In a small bowl, combine the corn starch, soy sauce, sesame oil and water to make the sauce base.

5. Add the contents of the bowl to the pan and stir for about a minute or until it just starts to thicken.

6. Add the tofu cubes and half the green onions and gently stir to combine.

7. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes to allow the tofu to absorb the flavors of the sauce.

8. Serve over rice and garnish with more green onions and a sprinkle of ground sichuan peppercorn.

Note: I used about 2.5 tablespoons of the tobanjang in mine and our 7-year-old loved it (except for the carrots).  Our adventurous almost-2-year-old tried some of the tofu, but preferred to stick with mostly rice.  Adjust the amount for how much your family likes to feel the heat.  You could also use a not-spicy-at-all alternative, like black bean sauce or maybe some miso.

If you have a suggestion for something I should order the next time I go out for Chinese, please leave a comment–we love trying new things.  I love hearing from you when you try my recipes, so leave a comment and let me know how it goes.  Remember, if you have any food questions or suggestions for things you’d like to read here, contact us!

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