Living Through COVID-19
Today marked the first official day that all of California went on the “safer at home” policy. We are essentially in a form of lockdown mode to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. Being limited in my grocery store visits, I made this easy tofu recipe out of the ingredients I already had in my fridge and pantry. It is quite surreal to be living through such a historical moment. I recognize that many people who are immune-compromised are at high risk right now. This is why many of us choose to engage in social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. I do miss seeing my friends and family. But I know that this is temporary. I am distancing myself and doing my part.
Cooking as Coping
In that spirit, I have been trying my best to stay occupied doing positive things because I have so little control over this whole situation. So I decided to resume cooking and food blogging. It will not be perfect. But I really have to overcome perfectionism so that I can create and share my love of cooking. So here goes. Here is my recipe for mapo tofu. It’s not exactly the Sichuan style. If you are looking for a Sichuan style mapo tofu, Omnivore’s Cookbook has a delicious recipe for that. My version of this tofu recipe is not the Cantonese style either because Cantonese cooking has very little chile in it. I think my tofu recipe is somewhere in between those two based on what I have in my fridge and pantry at the moment.
FAQs:
How do I cook tofu?
You can deep fry tofu, pan-fry it, and braise it. Whatever you do, make sure you use lots of sauce and strong flavors so that it is not bland.
Image by hanul choi from Pixabay
What kind of tofu do I use?
Medium to hard tofu is best for deep frying and pan frying. Soft tofu and silken tofu are best with soups and saucy dishes like mapo tofu because of their luscious texture and mouth feel.
What sauces do I need for Asian food?
You usually cannot go wrong with soy sauce, oyster sauce, fermented bean sauce, and even fish sauce. For other Asian recipes and the sauces they use, check out my Basil Beef Stir-Fry recipe. Please please please do NOT use sesame oil on everything. This is one of the biggest fallacies of popularized Asian food in America. I feel like shaking my head every time I see a famous chef on TV botching up Asian recipes with unnecessary sesame oil. If you don’t learn anything else from this post, just please remember that sesame oil does not belong in every recipe. Ok, end rant.
How do I thicken my sauces?
Most sauced Chinese dishes use a corn starch & water mixture called a “slurry” to thicken sauces. Make sure you do not dump your corn starch into hot sauce or hot water because that will make it clump up. For a proper slurry, use about 1:8 ratio of cornstarch to water and always make sure to mix it thoroughly with your cold water before dumping it into your sauce.
Price Comparison
If you are eating out at a Chinese restaurant, mapo tofu costs around $12 and it usually has enough for 2 servings. What did I spend? For my recipe, which serves 4-6, I bought 1 package of soft tofu ($2), 1/2 lb of ground pork ($1.50), and green onion ($.75). For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to round up and assume most of my condiments will cost me $.33 per serving. I already had the wine ($.33), sesame oil ($.33), chile oil ($.50), bean sauce ($.33) and aromatics already in my pantry: ginger ($.33), garlic ($.33). So that’s a grand total of $5.74. Let’s say you divide this into 4 servings. It costs about $1.50 per serving to make mapo tofu vs. $6 per serving when you eat out.
Mapo Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger minced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp garlic chili oil
- 1 tbsp Chinese fermented soybean paste miso or doenjang is fine
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp xiaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 cup water
- 1 package silken tofu
- 1 bunch green onion finely sliced
Instructions
- Preheat a pan on high heat. When pan is hot add oil, ginger, and ground pork. Allow pork to brown without over-stirring.
- Meanwhile, prepare sauce mixture. Add chili oil, fermented bean paste, soy sauce, xiaoxing wine, sesame oil, and sugar and mix together. Set aside.
- When pork is brown, add in garlic and sauce. Allow to saute for another 3 minutes.
- Mix together cornstarch and water, then add to the meat sauce. Mix together and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes to thicken the sauce.
- When sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon, add tofu and mix without breaking apart tofu pieces.
- Allow tofu to cook for 3 minutes. Then taste for seasoning and add water, soy sauce, sugar, or chili oil to taste.
- Add in green onion and mix into tofu. Turn off the heat and serve with rice. Enjoy!
Happy cooking! Tag me on Instagram @jennskitchendiary if you’ve made this dish! Would love to see how it turned out.
