Pock-Marked Mother Chen’s Beancurd

Name: Pock-Marked Mother Chen’s Beancurd (Ma po dou fu)
Yield: Serves 2–3 as a main course with rice and a vegetable dish
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: Sichuan chilli bean paste 2½ tbsp; minced beef (preferably organic) 150 g/5½ oz; groundnut oil 100 ml/3½ fl oz; baby leeks or large spring onions 4; beancurd (tofu) 1 block weighing about 500 g/1 lb 2 oz; salt to taste; Sichuan chillies ground to make 2 tsp; black fermented beans 1 tbsp; Sichuan pepper ½ tsp, dry-fried until fragrant then ground; potato flour 3 tbsp, mixed with 4 tbsp water; light soy sauce 2 tsp; stock preferably Sichuan (see cook’s) 250 ml/9 fl oz; sugar 1 tsp

Ma po dou fu

Preparation info

Serves
2–3
as a main course with rice and a vegetable dish

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Pepper

By Christine McFadden

Published 2008

About

This recipe is from Fuchsia Dunlop, consultant to London’s Sichuan restaurant Bar Shu and author of the award-winning Sichuan Cookery. Spicy, aromatic and oily, this is one of the most famous Sichuan dishes and epitomizes Sichuan’s culinary culture.

The dish is named after the smallpox-scarred wife of a Qing Dy

Ingredients

Asia
China
Sichuan
Main course
Side dish
Winter
Spicy

Ingredients

Method