Day 22: Mapo Tofu

I said mapo tofu in the title but this isn't really authentic mapo tofu at all, just my take on it with ingredients I had. I used ground beef instead of ground pork. I didn't really have Sichuan peppercorns, which is probably the most important part of this dish after the tofu. I do have Lao Gan Ma fried chili, which has Sichuan pepper in it as one ingredient, so that numbness was still there if more as an afterthought rather than the signature punch.

My tofu was perhaps firmer than what one would normally make mapo tofu with; honestly I don't remember how firm the tofu in mapo tofu normally is. I feel like it's pretty silken, and my tofu was a level 4 firmness on a scale of 1–6 (according to the package).

Quick note on the garlic: I got a few groceries yesterday including a jar of pre-minced garlic. I know people have strong opinions on it, but the store I went to was out of normal garlic and only had pre-peeled (cost-inefficient) or pre-minced (convenient, cost-efficient). I was not about to go on a grocery store tour in the midst of a pandemic so I just grabbed the jar. You may ask why I didn't just get Sichuan peppercorns and ground pork if I went grocery shopping anyway. The answer is that they would not be necessary purchases and I doubted I would use it again after making this.

In any case, this turned out super good and I would definitely make it again. It was also very easy to put together. I messed up a little bit and the recipe I provide is how I should have done it, not how I actually did it. Learn from my mistakes! Recipe serves two.

Ingredients

• 2/3–1 cup white rice
• 1 block of tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 1/2 lb ground beef (pork is obviously better if you have it, substitute chopped mushrooms if you're vegetarian)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Lan Gao Ma fried chili in oil to taste (I think I used about 3–4 tablespoons)
• Ground red pepper to taste (I think crushed red pepper would have worked better but I don't have any)

Steps

1. Cook rice.
2. In a preheated pan, add the sesame oil. When the oil is heated, start by sautéing the garlic and onion.
3. When the onions start turning translucent, add the ground beef. Add a generous pinch of salt and pepper. (If you're using the Lao Gan Ma chili, adding more of that will make the dish spicier but not saltier. You need both spice and salt!) Cook until the beef is mostly done.
4. Add the tofu and fried chili and stir to mix.
5. Add more chili or red pepper to taste, and taste as you go. Cook until the liquid (this will mostly be from the beef) is mostly gone.
6. Serve over rice.