Delicious! Mapo Tofu Recipe

Mapo tofu is a dish originally from China but this is quite popular in Japan. It normally with tofu, ground pork and green onions in spicy sauce. This is often ate at home and you can buy already made sauce for this dish in any Japanese super market. I myself never made this dish from a scratch. Since I don't have a Japanese super market close by, I decided to make it from scratch.

The result was spectacular! I was very proud of myself to recreate the taste I wanted to. This is something I can easily make from now on without any ready made sauce. This dish is great with white rice. Many people have it as Mapo tofu bowl.

I think many people use "Tian Mian Jiang"which is Chinese sweet bean paste but I didn't have this at home so I used "Miso" (soy bean paste) with sugar and Mirin. (I added Mirin but I think you can just use Miso and sugar if you don't have Mirin at home)

Ma-po Tofu (for 2~3people)
Ingredients
Tofu       1 (I used silken tofu but you can use firm tofu if you prefer) (cut into pieces)
Green onion 1 cup (chopped)
Ground pork  0.5lb
Garlic        2 table spoon (finely chopped)
Ginger      3 table spoon (finely chopped)
Doubanjiang (Chinese broad bean paste, spicy) 2 tea spoon
Oyster sacue   2 tea spoon
Soy Sauce   1 table spoon
Miso paste  1 table spoon
Sugar          1 tea spoon
Mirin           1 tea spoon
Sake           2 table spoon
Chicken Stock   1 1/2 cups
Oil            2 table spoon
Corn starch   2 tea spoon
Water        1/4 cup
Sesame oil    1 table spoon

1. First, mix Doubanjian, Oyster sauce, soy sauce, miso paste, sugar, mirin and sake in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Heat a pan and add 2 table spoon of oil. Then add chopped garlic and ginger.

3. When you start to smell ginger and garlic, add ground pork and saute well. Add one table spoon of sake and saute.

4. When pork is cooked and started to be crispy, add the mixture you made in 1. Mix well. Then, add chicken stock and bring to boil. Add tofu and green onions.

5. When green onions are cooked, add mixture of cornstarch and water to make it thick. Cook for a few minuites. At the end, add sesame oil.

Serve it with white rice. I added chopped chives for color.

This might be little bit different from the one you eat at the restaurant but I liked my version. It tasted home made and was really good. My husband said that it is quite spicy but I thought I can make it little bit spicier :-)

I have a feeling that this dish will be a regular on our table.