Friday 1 January 2010

Ma Po Tofu ( Spicy beancurd with minced meat )

HAPPY NEW YEAR - Here's a dish for the cold January wintry evenings.

I think this is actually a Szechuan dish, but it is quite well known around the world. After having tried various ready made sauces for this dish unsatisfactorily, I have settled on this particular recipe which I personally find has the best balance of spiciness, saltiness and sweetness. I have not added chillies here, although I do think it is an essential ingredient, but this is only because my son cannot eat food that is too spicy. Hence, I used more capsicum as a substitute.

Ingredients:
Sweet Thick Soy
Hot Fermented Soya Bean Sauce
Chilli Sauce
Capsicum
Onions
Garlic
Ginger
Blackbeans
Cornstarch
Chicken Stock
Plain fresh tofu
Mince meat


Firstly, I brown all the veg and blackbeans together. Then I add the hot bean sauce - this needs to be fried till fragrant of the whole dish will taste very different.


Then I add the meat and sweet soy and chilli sauce and fry till cooked.


At this stage, I add the tofu - it is very soft, so needs only to be fried for a couple of minutes to avoid it breaking up and becoming mushy. Then add the stock and corn starch to thicken.


And here it is served!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Happy New Year! May your 2010 be happy, healthy and prosperous! I can't wait to see what you will cook in 2010!

Anonymous said...

nice post. thanks.

Hazza said...

Lannae,

Happy New Year to you too! Hope you have a good one!

Babe_KL said...

Happy new year to you!

Tummythoz said...

A carbo inducing dish!

Wishing u a Happier New Year.

backStreetGluttons said...

will be perfect with rice or porridge !

Hazza said...

babe
Happy new year to you belatedly!

tummythoz
And another Happy New Year to you too!

韓國
Can someone please translate this for me??

bsg,
Never tried it with congee, but seems a great idea!

tigerfish said...

I like a little more gravy to this dish! But from your wok hei, I bet it is so robustly fragrant :)