Mapo Tofu

Ingredients

• 600 g medium-firm tofu, in 2 cm cubes
• 200 g pork mince
• 3 tbsp doubanjiang (chilli bean paste)
• 2 tsp szechuan peppercorns
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 20 g ginger, chopped
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 4 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 6 spring onions, sliced
• 2 tsp chilli flakes

Method

1. Salt-soak the tofu

   Slide the cubes into barely simmering salted water for 5 minutes, then drain. This firms them just enough to survive being stirred and seasons them from the inside — plain tofu stays bland however good the sauce.

   5 min

2. Toast and grind the peppercorns

   Toast the szechuan peppercorns in a dry pan until fragrant, then grind them. Untoasted they are merely dusty; toasted they deliver the numbing tingle the dish is named for.

   2 min

3. Brown the pork hard

   Fry the mince in the oil over a high heat until genuinely crisp and dark, not just cooked. It should be almost dry and slightly crunchy.

   8 min

4. Fry the bean paste

   Turn the heat down, add the doubanjiang, chilli flakes, garlic and ginger and fry for two minutes until the oil turns deep red. That red oil is the sauce — rushing this leaves it raw and salty.

   2 min

5. Simmer, then add tofu

   Add the stock and soy, bring to a simmer, then slide the tofu in and nudge the pan rather than stirring. A spoon breaks the cubes into scrambled paste.

   5 min

6. Thicken in stages

   Slake the cornflour in cold water and add it in two or three goes, letting it return to a simmer each time, until the sauce clings to the tofu. Adding it all at once overshoots into glue.

7. Finish

   Scatter the ground szechuan pepper and spring onions over off the heat. The numbing pepper goes on at the end so it keeps its edge.