Dinner · Chinese

Ma Po Tofu

A classic Szechuan dish featuring silky tofu, minced beef, and a spicy, savory sauce seasoned with fermented black beans and doubanjiang.

Saved from youtube.com ↗

Prep
15 min
Cook
20 min
Total
35 min
Serves
4
Level
Medium
Open in app
Ma Po Tofu

Method

  1. Add a small pinch of salt and sesame oil to minced beef. Mix well and set aside.

  2. Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 and ½ tablespoons of water in a small bowl to make water starch.

  3. Cut tofu into square cubes (around 2cms). Bring a large amount of water to a boil and then add a pinch of salt. Slide the tofu in and cook for 1 minute. Move out and drain.

  4. Get a wok and heat up around 2 tablespoons of oil, fry the minced meat until crispy. Transfer out beef out and leave the oil in.

  5. Fry doubanjiang for 1 minute over slow fire and then add garlic, scallion white, ginger and fermented black beans to cook for 30 seconds until aroma. Then mix pepper flakes in.

  6. Add water to the seasonings and bring to boil over high fire. Gently slide the tofu cubes. Add light soy sauce and beef. Slow the heat after boiling and then simmer for 6-8 minutes. Then add chopped garlic greens.

  7. Stir the water starch and then pour half of the mixture to the simmering pot. Wait for around 30 seconds and then pour the other half. You can slightly taste the tofu and add pinch of salt if not salty enough. By the way, if you feel it is too spicy, add some sugar can milder the taste. But be carefully as the broth is very hot at this point.

  8. Transfer out when almost all the seasonings stick to tofu cubes. Sprinkle Szechuan peppercorn powder (to taste) and chopped garlic greens if using.

  9. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

Cook this in ChefBook

Keep it. Plan it. Cook it.

  • Save & planKeep it in a cookbook and drop it into your week — free.
  • GroceriesEvery ingredient on your list in one tap, scaled to your servings.
  • Cook ModeOne big step at a time, with timers and the screen kept awake. Premium.
ChefBook Cook Mode showing one recipe step in large text with a running timer
ChefBookFree · iOS & AndroidInstall

Log in to continue

Your recipes, cookbooks and likes stay in sync with the ChefBook app.

Add to Cookbooks

Select cookbooks to add this recipe

Loading…

Premium lives in the ChefBook app