Ingredients:
- Tofu (soft or silken)
- Dried shiitake mushrooms
- Shiitake mushrooms (not dried)
- Scallions
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Kombu
- Fermented black beans (these are actually soybeans but that’s what the label says)
- Pixian doubanjiang (here’s a good reference for this)
- Sichuan peppercorns
- Light soy sauce
- Shaoxing wine
- Cornstarch (or potato or whatever, idc)
No measurements provided because I don’t measure anything. If you want guidance on this feel free to go over to my Contact page.
Instructions:
Make some stock by simmering dried shiitake mushrooms, kombu, and roughly chopped scallions, garlic, and ginger together for 30 to 60 minutes.
While you’re waiting for the stock, dice the tofu, scallions, garlic, ginger, and fresh shiitake mushrooms. Chop up the fermented black beans a bit too. I like to pour a bunch of boiling water over the tofu at this point and let it drain in a sieve or colander. I don’t know if this does anything but I make some really good vegan mapo tofu so you should listen to me and my weird superstitions.
Chop up some dried shiitakes and then infuse your oil with the chopped mushrooms and sichuan peppercorns over medium heat. Don’t burn this. After infusing save the oil and toss out the solids.
Heat up the infused oil in your wok over high heat, then cook the heck out of the fresh mushrooms. A lot of people don’t cook mushrooms enough and you don’t want to be those people. If you’re not sure, cook your mushrooms longer than you think you might need to.
After the mushrooms are pretty well browned, add in the scallions and ginger, cook them a bit, and add in the garlic and fermented black beans. Cook those for a tiny bit (like 30 seconds), and then toss in your pixian doubanjiang. Stir this in and cook it for a bit like it’s tomato paste. Add in the shaoxing wine and soy sauce, then add some of the stock you made earlier. Bring this to a simmer.
Add in your tofu and stir very carefully so you keep them in nice neat little cubes. Simmer everything together for like 10 minutes. Make a cornstarch slurry and add it in, take your wok off heat. Sprinkle ground sichuan peppercorn on top and some scallion greens so it looks nice and bright.
Congrats you made some hella good mapo tofu! And you have some leftover stock that you can throw tofu, seaweed, salt, and white pepper in to make soup. But also you probably forgot to make a pot of rice so I hope you like waiting 30 minutes before you can eat.