This recipe was actually made the Friday before last Friday, but I was busy with artist alley prep for the event last Saturday so I didn’t get to post until now. Last Friday’s recipe was skipped fyi. I decided to use up one last carton of tofu on a recipe from “Proud Immortal Culinary Way” a Scum Villain Self Saving System novel cookbook zine, the Endless Abyss Mapo Tofu. I’ve always wanted to try a spicy (and you know, colorful) Schezuan recipe and I technically had all of the ingredients already from a previous idea to try Anthony Bourdain’s mapo recipe that never fell through. This particular fanzine had a lot of authentic (well, as far as I know) Chinese recipes plus a few Western salads and desserts as befitting a modern transmigration to xianxia genre novel, but as with the last fanzine, some recipes were way too difficult and some were too easy or not very aesthetic. This tofu recipe looked like a winner though; not too complex, full of things I like, and acceptably attractive to look at. It doesn’t seem too much different from a regular mapo tofu recipe though, if you know the difference, be sure to let me know.
[photo of mapo tofu with ground pork]
Ingredients Summary – moderately easy to find at an Asian grocery store or well-stocked specialty grocery store
- tofu (silken but I used firm), ground meat (I used ground pork)
- spices: Sichuan peppercorn, dried chili pepper (I used one arbol chile and some Korean ground pepper), garlic, ginger, doubanjiang chili bean paste
- oil, broth, sugar, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, cornstarch
- green onions
Steps Summary – fairly easy, does require grinding with mortar/pestle or blender
Toast and grind peppercorns and dried chiles separately on a pan and in a mortar/pestle or blender. Cube tofu and simmer in a salt bath. Mash up doubanjiang chili paste. Heat oil in wok and crisp up ground meat, then fry garlic and ginger. Add doubanjiang paste, then add chiles and meat. Add broth then tofu cubes and simmer until liquids are reduced. Add the sugar, soy sauce, wine, sesame oil, then add cornstarch slurry as desired. Garnish with green onions and sichuan peppercorns.
Taste Summary – savory and spicy but not too spicy at least for me
- Taste
- As described by many others, mapo tofu is supposed to have a numbing spice from the peppercorns and a regular hot spice from the chiles, but should not be overpowering like other spicy dishes. However I felt mine was barely spicy and had to add more chile sauce and pepper to get the fire I preferred.
- Texture
- Firm tofu did not break up that easily, although it was not a truly authentic texture to the soft tofu normally used. The sauce was oily and fragrant and somewhat thin, more like a stew rather than the typical oozy sauce. Again, I didn’t really know what type of dried chiles to use and probably added only about half of the expected amount for fear of going over, so that may have affected the spice level and texture. Overall a pleasant variety of textures with the tofu, beef and aromatics, tasty and filling but not too heavy when eaten with white rice.
Convenience Summary – The prep time is rather considerable, probably an hour worth to make 4 servings, due to toasting and grinding the peppers, then cooking everything else separately. I guess you could potentially work on one step while something else simmers but I’m not that good. But 4 servings could last several meals and I enjoyed each time I served myself, so overall worth the time and effort.
Would I make this recipe again? Well… I have a huge bag of sichuan peppercorns left so I probably should lol. I do love spicy food and tofu with ground meat dishes can never go wrong with me so I will keep this recipe in mind. I actually already made the congee recipe in this book, and maybe will try a few other meat and bun recipes if I have the energy. But onto the next cookbook for now!