???? Dad’s YUMMY Mapo Tofu! (麻婆豆腐)
Watch me make mapo tofu with pork and see how my family grades me! This is a super quick and easy recipe that is hard even for beginners like me to get wrong.
Guilin-Style Chili Sauce:
Two-Pack:
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???? RECIPE + INGREDIENTS????
Check out our blog for an adjustable list of ingredients and step-by-step videos:
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If you enjoy these videos and want to support us being able to continue creating content for many years to come, we’d love for you to consider becoming a patron of Made With Lau.
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???? COOKWARE WE USE/LOVE ????
- Electric Burner:
- Non-Stick Wok:
- Carbon Steel Wok:
- Non-Stick Pan:
- Carbon Steel Pan:
- Stainless Steel Skillet:
- Cookware Set:
- 8 Quart Pot:
- Cookware Collections:
- Pan Protector:
- Carbon Steel Seasoning Wax:
???? KNIVES WE USE/LOVE ????
- Dad's 40 year old Chinese Chef Knife:
- Chef Knife:
- Santoku Knife:
- Starter Knife Set:
- Sharpening Stone Set:
???????? KITCHEN ACCESSORIES WE USE/LOVE ????????
- Magnetic Knife Strip (storage):
- Cutting Board:
- Instant Read Thermometer #1:
- Instant Read Thermometer #2:
- Food Scale:
???? DAD'S SPECIAL INGREDIENTS ????
If you don't live near an Asian market, you buy these online / on Amazon:
- Sesame Oil:
- Handcrafted Soy Sauce:
- Light Soy Sauce:
- Light Soy Sauce (Handcrafted):
- Dark Soy Sauce:
- Dark Soy Sauce (Handcrafted):
- Rice Cooking Wine:
- Premium Oyster Sauce:
- Chili Oil:
- Hoisin Sauce:
- Chicken Bouillon:
- Shaoxing Cooking Wine:
Options for Vegetarian Oyster Sauce
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Options for Gluten Free Oyster Sauce
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Note: These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, our family earns a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!
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???? LINKS MENTIONED ????
Adam Liaw:
一地一味 One Place, One Taste:
Chinese Cooking Demystified:
Mark Wiens:
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⏲ CHAPTERS ⏲
00:00 - Prepare aromatics & garnish
03:34 - Prepare tofu
04:03 - Does tofu need to be pressed?
06:04 - Stir-fry aromatics & meat
08:11 - Pork substitute?
08:46 - Add flavors
09:03 - On mapo tofu
10:40 - Bright red color?
10:58 - Add tofu
12:07 - Add slurry & garnish
14:40 - Family grades me!
15:42 - Mommy Lau is proud of Randy
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???? OUR FAMILY ????
Learn more about the Lau family, and why we started this channel + blog:
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???? OTHER CREDITS ????
Produced by Randy Lau, Grace Phan-Nguyen
Edited by Willard Chan, Nicole Cheng
Translation by Arlene Chiu, David Loh
Intro Flute Music - Performed by Daddy Lau
Copyright Chillhop Music -
Copyright Chillhop Music -
Sichuan Mapo Tofu, plus a (hopefully educational) look at the CIA Textbook's version (麻婆豆腐)
A special two year anniversary video! We wanted to revisit Mapo Tofu, probably the most popular tofu dish on the planet. A while back we made a video on Mapo Tofu, and while we still like that recipe, we wanted to improve it to get a bit closer to Chengdu.
And just for fun, we decided to place our new recipe up against the recipe for Mapo Tofu from The Professional Chef, the textbook for the Culinary Institute of America. While one look at the thumbnail could probably tell you that there's a few problems there, we wanted to take the time to explore and show you how precisely that recipe errs. Hopefully, in the process, we can impart some guidelines... some things to avoid. After all, sometimes learning how *not* to do something can be just as - if not more - illuminating than how *to* do something.
Footage of the Mapo Tofu from Chen's in Chengdu is courtesy of the channel Itchy Feet on the Cheap. Lots of food travel videos over on their channel. You can find the full video here:
Footage of the canteen is courtesy of Youtuber “欧文老师”. It's the canteen of Zhejiang University - he seems to upload sporadically but has a few vlogs up if you'd like to check him out. In Chinese. Check out the full video here:
Written recipe is over here on /r/cooking:
Outro Music: Add And by Broke For Free
ABOUT US
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Learn how to cook real deal, authentic Chinese food! We post recipes every Tuesday (unless we happen to be travelling) :)
We're Steph and Chris - a food-obsessed couple that lives in Shenzhen, China. Steph is from Guangzhou and loves cooking food from throughout China - you'll usually be watching her behind the wok. Chris is a long-term expat from America that's been living in China and loving it for the last nine years - you'll be listening to his explanations and recipe details, and doing some cooking at times as well.
This channel is all about learning how to cook the same taste that you'd get in China. Our goal for each video is to give you a recipe that would at least get you close to what's made by some of our favorite restaurants here. Because of that, our recipes are no-holds-barred Chinese when it comes to style and ingredients - but feel free to ask for tips about adaptations and sourcing too!
CHEF RV’s MAPO TOFU
MAPO TOFU
Cooking oil
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn, crushed
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 piece onion, thinly sliced
½ kilo ground pork
¼ cup fermented beancurd (spicy)
2 tablespoons chili paste (chinese style)
Dried mushrooms, as needed
Water, as needed
White sugar, as needed
Slurry (water with cornstarch)
2-3 pieces red chilies, sliced (optional)
2 squares tofu, cut into cubes
Leeks, sliced†
BETTER THAN TAKEOUT - Mapo Tofu Recipe
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???? PRINTABLE RECIPE -
There are 8 characteristics for an authentic Mapo tofu, which are 麻、辣、鲜、香、嫩、滑、翠、整. Translated as numbing, spicy, umami, fragrant, tender, smooth, green (garlic sprout as garnish), and whole (no broken tofu). It sounds mouth-watering, LOL! Unlike the western takeout style of mapo tofu, the real one will make you sweat in just a few bites.
INGREDIENTS
10-12 red dried chilies, cut in 1/2 inch long pieces
1-2 tbsps. of Sichuan peppercorns (Amazon Link -
2.5 tbsps. of Sichuan Dou Ban Jiang (Amazon Link -
1.5 tsps. of fermented black bean, AKA Dou Chi 豆豉 (Product Link -
2 tbsps. of Chinese cooking wine (Amazon Link -
1 lb. of soft tofu
1.5 liter of water to blanch the tofu
1/2 tsp of salt
3 tbsp of vegetable oil
200 grams of ground meat Chicken, pork, or beef
4 scallions diced; separate the green and white part
2 tbsps. of diced garlic
1.5 tsps. of minced ginger
1 tsp of paprika (Amazon Link -
2 tsps. of sugar
1.5 cups of beef stock or water
2 tsp of soy sauce (Amazon Link -
1 tbsps. of cornstarch
1/4 cup of water
INSTRUCTIONS
Toast the red dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns in a wok over medium low heat for a couple of minutes. Let it cool first, then blend until find. This is called Dao Kou La Jiao (刀口辣椒, peppers under the blade), very useful for any types of Ma La (spicy and numbing )dish.
Blend the Sichuan Dou Ban Jiang, Dou Chi, and cooking wine in a blender until it turns into a fine paste. Set it aside. This is to grind the firm broad bean pieces in the Dou Ban Jiang so the texture and the taste will be better.
Cut the tofu into bite size cubes. Add 1/2 tsp of salt to 1.5 liters of boiling water. Blanch the tofu for a couple of minutes. Remove the tofu from the water and set it aside. The blanch will reduce the beany taste and also prevent the tofu from breaking apart while stirring.
Turn the heat to high and heat the wok until it is smoking hot. Add cooking oil. Swirl it around to coat the bottom of the wok. Add ground meat (beef, chicken, or pork) and stir until cooked through.
Push the meat to the side. Add the Doubanjiang paste and stir over low heat for a couple of minutes to active the umami flavor.
Add minced garlic, minced ginger, diced white part of the scallion, paprika, sugar, and half of the dao kou la jiao, reserve the other half to add at the end. Stir everything until well combined and fragrant.
Pour in the beef stock and bring to a boil. Taste to adjust the flavor. Mine needed 2 tsp of soy sauce. It should be saltier compared to your normal taste because the tofu doesn’t have that much flavor. This dish is normally served with white rice so you need the flavor to be strong to go good with the rice.
Add the tofu and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
Mix 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water. Add to the wok in 3 batches and stir to thicken everything. For better presentation, do you best not to break the tofu.
Sprinkle the reserved Dao Kou La Jiao and the diced scallion as garnish.
Videography / Editing by Austin Schargorodski -
When I think of comfort foods, I think of recipes that I grew up eating made by my mom and grandma;
I am sharing my family’s Mapo Tofu recipe that will have you downing bowls and bowls of rice. Mapo Tofu is spicy tofu and pork stew that is savory, spicy, and the ultimate rice killer. Every family has its variation of Mapo Tofu, but this is my favorite since it is what I grew up eating, and it’s also fast and easy to make at home! Don’t worry if you can’t eat spicy food; just adjust the seasoning to your liking.
I made this for my vegetarian friend, and now I might like this more ...
#shorts #tofu #vegetarian #chinesefood