Mapo Tofu is one of the dishes that became known in Japan in the 1970s. It was adapted for the Japanese by Chen Jianmin, a chef from Sichuan Province, and introduced in the popular cooking programme ‘Today’s Cooking’, which quickly spread to ordinary households. It remains a popular home-cooked dish. In this recipe, I made a simple and tasty dish using soymeal mince.
Recipe:
Ingredients
- Soy meat 100 g (minced)
- Ginger, minced 60 g
- Garlic, minced 30 g
- 1 or 2 spring onion, chopped
- 1 piece of tofu
- Half egg plant if you like
Sauce
- Chili bean 30 g
- Soy sauce: 30 ml
- Sake 50 g
- Sesame oil 6 tbsp
- Broth 500 cc
- Potato starch 15g
- Heat sesame oil in a pan and fry the chopped ginger and garlic. Be careful not to burn them.
- When the ginger and garlic are fragrant, add the chopped spring onions and stir-fry until they become golden brown. If you like eggplant, cut it into cubes the same size as the tofu and add them together with the spring onions.
- Add soy sauce, sake, and broth in that order, bringing the mixture to a boil.
- Add the soy meat and cook until softened, then add the tofu.
- Finally, dissolve 3 tablespoons of potato starch in water and add to the pan to thicken the sauce. Finish with a drizzle of aromatic sesame oil.
Enjoy!
