We’ve teamed up with Pinterest to help you get inspired and find your passion. Follow Angela Hui’s lockdown journey to cook the perfect mapo tofu – then discover how you can incorporate more spice into your cooking
How to spice up your life this summer
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My first introduction to this brooding, fiery crimson dish was from an old Cantonese period drama TV show I used to grow up watching. It was about searching for the perfect, secret mapo tofu recipe and ever since then it’s been living rent-free in my mind. A Sichuan dish that consists of minced pork with heaps of garlic, lip-tingling Sichuan peppercorns and dried chillies loaded with silky cubes of tofu floating about.
I had never attempted to make mapo tofu myself, only ordered at restaurants and tried my mother’s mild Cantonese-style version. But as I gazed longingly at pictures of my dream dish on Pinterest, I became determined to try. Since then, I haven’t looked back and it’s become an obsession. I have it at least once a week. I’ve tried and tested different recipes, tweaked to my liking and played around with fusion versions such as a mapo nachos and burgers. Hong Kong-raised and New York City-based chef Lucas Sin’s mapo lasagne is next on my list.
What makes this dish unique is how the different components come together to create a mind-bending experience in terms of intensely savoury taste, soft texture and fragrant smells. There’s something about the numbing mala spicy sensation where the spice permeates your tastebuds and it jolts your senses awake. It lingers on the tongue and leaves you wanting more.
The foundation of the sauce is doubanjiang. A chilli paste made from either fermented soybeans or broad beans and chilies. It’s salty, spicy and umami, can be eaten as a condiment, or used as a seasoning or sauce base in cooking. When looking for a particular brand you can find most of them in Asian supermarkets. I started off with a more recognisable brand like Lee Kum Kee, which works in a pinch, but have since graduated to a more artisanal Chengdu's famous Dandan Pixian douban level. Many chilli bean paste brands don't have an English name, look out for a lumpy dark red paste that could possibly blow your head off, they come in plastic packets and resealable jars.
Prefer to have someone else cook?
If you’re searching for the spice, but don’t fancy
making a mess in the kitchen, then look no further than
Sichuan Folk near Spitalfields Market, My Old Place (also in Spitalfields), Kaki in King’s Cross and Ma Po in Surrey Quays. They offer moreish mapo tofu. Be sure to order a side of rice and some choi to soak up all the goodness.
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Written by Time Out