Mapo tofu is delicious but, try as I might - and my low standards in photography didn't help - I could not make the dish look yummy. For those who don't know Mapo tofu (the Japanese name for the dish), it is a pork and tofu dish, flavored with ginger, garlic and Szechuan peppercorns among other things. I serve it with steamed Asian rice and usually a brightly colored vegetable dish for visual contrast.
Recently - Melissa Clarke had a tofu and shiitake recipe in the NYT. While her recipe didn't inspire me on that particular day, I considered her method of using tofu - shredding it with a box grater rather than cubing it - nothing short of genius. I have used Melissa's technique in this dish and I like the texture that it provides.
Now that I live in the US rather than Asia, I have substituted readily found ingredients for the completely authentic ones that my next door neighbor used when she taught me how to make this dish. If you want the traditional recipe please email me and i will forward it to you. This tastes pretty close to the original though.
1 lb minced pork
1 package firm tofu (not silken), shredded on the large side of a box grater and set aside
1 Tbsp vegetable oil (olive oil which is my go-to oil does not work here)
2 tsps Szechuan peppercorns or black peppercorns, crushed as finely as you can
3 green onion, chopped
1 Tbsp rice wine (I have been known to just bung in some of what I am drinking)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced ginger
2 Tbsps Chinese chili paste with garlic (you can buy this in the Asian section of most supermarkets)
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsps water
Mix the pork with the wine and the soy sauce and set aside.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan and add the peppercorns, the green onion and the ginger. Fry over medium heat for a few seconds until fragrant. Add the pork and cook until no longer pink.
Once the meat is cooked through, add the chili paste, the oyster sauce and the sugar. Mix through well and reduce the heat to low. Pour in the chicken stock and stir occasionally until the stock starts to boil.
Mix the cornstarch and the water together. Add this and the tofu to the pork/stock mixture and cook for a few minutes until the sauce is thickened and the tofu is heated through. Serve at once.
Melissa's technique explained here.