Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐

This is a very quick description of how to make mapo tofu. Chinese food is generally “靠感觉“, so I’m going to give some broad strokes and assume the reader (my future self) is able to trust his or her Chinese cooking intuition to make it into a 成品.

Ingredients

• Tofu (firm? soft? soft.)
• Laoganma / Spicy oily sauce. Chili crisp.
• 豆瓣酱
• Sichuan peppercorn (花椒)
• Pork (ground pork, or buy pork and chop into small bits)
• scallion (葱)
• Corn starch

Instructions

1. Cut the tofu into small squares, roughly 2x2cm
2. Bring a wok full of water to boil
3. When it starts to boil, turn the heat to medium and put the tofu squares in.
4. Cook for one minute, then strain and set aside. This step is mainly for the purpose of lightly cooking the tofu, removing the smell of the raw tofu, and making it slightly more 嫩
5. Next, throw some oil and garlic in the wok and start cooking the pork with a little bit of soy sauce.
6. After it starts to brown slightly, add in spices, such as the laoganma and 豆瓣酱. All kinds of spices accepted here.
7. Keep cooking until it’s a nice oily mess. Add water and cook for ~3 more minutes to let it turn into a soupy deal.
8. Now, turn the heat low and add the tofu.
9. Add corn starch, dark soy sauce (老抽), and salt.
10. ???
11. Profit
12. …
13. After about 5 minutes, emove from stove, set aside.
14. Watch the feckless reaction of your partner eating your pathetic but good-effort 老外做的大学生级别的麻婆豆腐