Name: Mapo Doufu
Yield: Serves 4–6 with 2–3 Other Dishes
Cuisine: Sichuanese
Ingredients: 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped; 7.5 ml (1½ tsp) Shaoxing wine or medium dry sherry; 5 ml (1 tsp) thick or dark soy sauce; 2 spring onions, green parts only, cut into tiny rounds; .75 ml (⅛ tsp) salt; .75 ml (⅛ tsp) sugar; 2.5 ml (½ tsp) roasted ground Sichuan peppercorns; 5–10 ml (1–2 tsp) sesame oil; 50 g (2 oz) lean pork; 5 ml (1 tsp) thin or light soy sauce; 20–25 g (¾–1 oz) zhacai or Sichuan preserved vegetable, rinsed, patted dry and finely chopped; 15–30 ml (1–2 tbsp) spicy-hot soy bean paste or broadbean paste; 5 ml (1 tsp) sesame oil; 60 ml (4 tbsp) peanut or vegetable oil; 150 ml (5 fl oz/⅔ cup) prime stock; 4 cakes bean curd, refreshed; 5–10 ml (1–2 tsp) hot chilli oil; 2.5–5 ml (½–1 tsp) sugar; 5 ml (1 tsp) potato flour

Preparation info

Serves
4–6
with 2–3 Other Dishes

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Classic Food of China

By Yan-Kit So

Published 1992

About

Undoubtedly the most famous Sichuanese bean curd dish, which reflects the earthy regional sense of humour. Mapo actually means a woman scarred with pock marks on her face. This particular pockmarked woman, a Sichuanese Mrs Chen of the late-19th century, happened to be a superb cook who worked side by side with her husband, a chef of some repute. But it was Mrs Chen’s bean curd dish, with its lingering spicy and slightly numbing effect on the palate, that ha