Recipe Ingredient
- 1 block silken beancurd (300g), cut into 2cm cubes
- 60ml oil
- 150g minced beef
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Sichuan chilli bean paste
- 1 tablespoon preserved black beans, washed
- 2 teaspoons ground chillies
- 150ml chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon potato flour, mixed with 1 tablespoon water to form a paste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns (fah chiew), roasted
- 5-6 dried red chillies, deep-fried
- 1 leek, sliced diagonally
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. When hot, stir-fry the minced beef until fragrant and browned. Lower heat, add the hot bean paste, black beans and ground chillies; stir-fry until the oil turns a rich red colour. Pour in chicken stock, stir, and add the beancurd. Mix in gently; do not stir or the beancurd will break. Add sugar, soy sauce, rice wine and salt to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes and add the tofu. Bring mixture to boil and thicken with the potato flour paste. Remove from heat and ladle into a bowl.
- To serve: Scatter ground Sichuan peppercorns over the mapo tofu. Garnish with the fried chillies and thinly-sliced leeks. - DT
