#TOFU DISHES FULL#

In Sichuan province, people love to use garlic greens in Mapo tofu instead of scallion green.

Garlic greens (и’њи‹—) is the tender plant of garlic.

It will enhance your mapo tofu to another level. But for Szechuan peppercorn lovers, do not skip this step. But it is ok to skip this if you really do not like the numbing taste. In almost every Szechuan style restaurants, they sprinkle freshly grounded Szechuan peppercorn powder before serving.

Freshly grounded Szechuan peppercorn powderВ (зЋ°зЈЁиЉ±ж¤’зІ‰)is another important seasoning that highlights the dish.

Both of the two ingredients should be slightly chopped before using. You can try to get some from local Asian market or purchase some from amazon: Chinese Douchi - Fermented Black Beans - 16 Oz Bag Each.

Dou-chi (и±†и±‰) isВ also known as fermented black beans.

You can search it in Asian stores or buy from Amazon.

#TOFU DISHES FULL#

Real Szechuan doubanjiang is full of flavor after long time of fermentation. It is the essential ingredient for real Szechuan mapo tofu. doubanjiangВ (и±†з“Јй…±), the soul of Sichuan cuisine,В isВ also known as broad bean paste.So mapo tofu is usually served with plain and tasteless staple food like steamed rice, steamed buns or noodles. When eating along, it might be slightly salty and spicy. Mapo tofu itself is a dish with very strong flavors. If you want to try to use silken tofu, I recommend this one pot tofu and egg because there is almost no moving during the cooking process. Firm tofu is not good at texture but silken tofu will lose the shape. In order to pursue the soft and shapable texture, soft tofu is the best choice. So you can make super good mapo tofu at home with a basic Chinese pantry.

Most of the ingredient used in mapo tofu like doubanjiang, douchi and others are quite common for home cooking. The hot, numbing and aromatic flavor with the silken texture is widely loved. And it is also very popular in home cooking. If you visit Sichuan style restaurant, mapo tofu is always the top sellers.

But it is quite plain and tasteless (even with raw soy flavor), so starch water is used in order to wrap the flavors. Tofu is a good sauce or protein and thus be listed as a healthy food. The strong combined flavors come from doubanjiang, douchi, soy sauce and chili powder. Mapo tofu is a dish using tofu with the basic ingredient and usually include minced meat (originally beef but later pork too). Besides, mapo has becomes a kind of flavor which has also been used in other dishes. Then the tofu dish with beef become more popular and her guests gave the name: Mapo tofu.Nowadays, along with the popular of this dish, there are many variations for example vegetarian version or pork version. So she bought some beef and cut it to granules and adding the beef into her tofu. However some guests told her that they want to eat some meat rather than just tofu. Her tofu dishes are quite popular among the guests. The wife also the cook gets some pock (йє»еђin Chinese)on her face. It is recorded that there is a couple who own a restaurant mainly selling vegetarian dishes. At the very beginning, Mapo tofu is named after its creator. If you know the Chinese name of Mapo tofu(йє»е©†и±†и…ђ), the answer might be tofu made by mapo or is mapo is kind of flavor. Mapo tofu is one of the top ten famous Chinese dishes and enjoys a high popularity among not only Chinese people but also many western countries.В Personally I like to cook this dish at home from time to time especially in cool seasons such as winter and fall. Authentic Szechuan style mapo tofu is one of the branding dishes of Szechuan cuisine.

Tofu dishes