Name: Down-Home Hunan Tofu (家常豆腐)
Yield: Serves 2–3 as a main dish, 4–6 as part of a multicourse meal.
Cuisine: Hunanese
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons thin (regular) soy sauce; 3–4 cups corn or peanut oil, for deep-frying; 1½ teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1½ tablespoons cold chicken stock; 3–4 tablespoons corn or peanut oil; 1 walnut-size nugget fresh ginger; ½ cup rich, unsalted chicken stock; 4 squares (1 pound) fresh white tofu, firm Chinese-style best; about ¼ teaspoon coarse kosher salt; about ¼ teaspoon sugar; rounded ½ cup tiny fresh carrot cubes, diced string beans, or diced Chinese longbeans; 1–1½ tablespoons Chinese chili sauce; 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or quality, dry sherry; 1 large whole scallion, cut into 1-inch lengths; 4–5 large cloves garlic, stem end removed, lightly smashed and peeled; 6 ounces ground top round beef or ground pork butt; freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation info

Serves
2–3
as a main dish .

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking

By Barbara Tropp

Published 1982

About

This Hunan-inspired dish of meaty, chili-zested tofu is far more to my liking than its well-known Szechwanese cousin, “Ma-Po Tofu.” In this dish the tiny tofu cubes are first deep-fried to a firm golden brown, so they are resilient and not simply mushy when you bite down on them. The sauce is a spicy conspiracy of garlic, ginger, scallion, and chili, and the bits of meat and diced carrots or string beans contribute color, substance, and crunch.