In my first months of blogging, way back in the middle of 2011, I posted one of my absolute favourite recipes, Ma Po Tofu, which is a Sichuan classic and is seriously addictive – if you like chilli that is. It is incredibly easy to cook and after a manic day it is the perfect pick-me-up-food that takes no time to prepare. Over the years however, I have found that I am increasingly making it without the pork mince element and keeping it to a more vegetarian dish by including simply tofu and fresh (or sometimes frozen) spinach.
Recently in Hong Kong I began to judge eating establishments on how well they could cook Ma Po Tofu and Dan Dan Noodles as I had a acquired a taste for both dishes.
Tofu I know divides opinion, but I am definitely in the camp of someone who loves it. It wasn’t an immediate love affair, but one that has grown over time to the extent that I always have tofu in the house, ready and waiting for me to make a last minute Ma Po Tofu dish or my other favourite tofu dishes, roasted harlequin squash with tofu, kale and coriander in a miso curry paste, black pepper tofu and soba noodles with tofu, aubergine and mango. Seriously give them all a try – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Tofu, or bean curd as it is also known, is hugely nutritious, versatile and a great vehicle for flavour. It’s rich in protein and low in fat, especially saturated fat. Yes, eaten on its own it is rather plain, but the point of tofu is to incorporate it with other flavours which it will help to enhance and lift. There are a myriad of different types of tofu, but the one I tend to use the most is ‘firm, silken tofu’ . I am going to be cooking some more tofu dishes over the course of this year, hoping that I may convert a few followers to the joys of tofu eating.
So here is what you need for the vegetarian version of the dish.
Vegetarian Ma Po Tofu
Serves 2/3
349g silken tofu (or a similar amount)
2 large handfuls of fresh spinach
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp of chilli bean sauce (Lee Kum Kee’s I find works really well)
125ml of vegetable stock (fresh or a cube)
1 tsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp of soy sauce (light or dark)
2 tsp of sugar
1/4 tsp of sea salt
a good pinch of crushed Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 tsp of sesame oil
1. Cut the tofu into small (2cm) cubes and place to one side.
2. In a shallow pan heat the vegetable oil and then add the garlic and spring onions, stirring for around 30 seconds. Then add the chilli bean paste and mix into the garlic and spring onions.
3. After a minute add the chicken stock, shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sugar and salt and bring to the boil.
4. Add the spinach to the pan and gently fold into the hot sauce.
5. Once the spinach has begun to wither add the tofu and carefully spoon the sauce over the tofu, making sure not to break up the cubes. Leave to gently simmer for a couple of minutes.
6. Serve into a large bowl and sprinkle the Sichuan peppercorns and sesame oil and gently mix together.
Serve alongside small bowls of rice and hot cups of piping Jasmine/Chinese tea.
Perfect for this cold snowy weather.
May be trying this recipe this weekend! Looks delish!
It’s perfect for this cold wintery weather. The chilli bean sauce (Lee Kum Kee) is essential really so try and get hold of a jar. Some Sainsbury stores stock it, or Amazon or any local East Asian store will hold it. Hope you like it. Best Torie
Ma po tofu is one of my favorites to make, except that I use vegetable stock instead. I never though to add spinach! Great idea to add even more health to this comfort dish
Ha thank you for spotting that – chicken stock wouldn’t quite make it vegetarian. I tend to grab either vegetable or chicken stock cubes, but for this being strictly vegetarian I will use vegetable stock from now on ;o).
I love Ma Po Tofu! One of my chief regrets about moving to the neighborhood where we now live is that it made trips to my favorite Chinese hole-in-the-wall impossibly inconvenient. Goodbye Ma Po Tofu. But it’s one of those dishes where the whole vegetarian/non-vegetarian distinction fades away–the veg. version can be that good. On another note: great composition and script on the ingredients photo–you just upped the bar a notch. Now I’m going to have to learn how to do a script layer. Sigh.. Ken
Glad you liked the ingredients photo. The spoons were rather handy to write along the handle. I am switching over to a Macbook soon as I have just invested in a more technical camera and lens so needed a more powerful computer than my old PC. Been using Picasa to fine tune my photos to date, including the script shot. Now got to get to grips with ‘Lightroom’ on my Macbook. grrrr. What do you use – photoshop? Best Torie
This looks so yum! Thanks for sharing… I’ve bookmarked this
-JulieC
Excellent. Thank you
I have not had mabodofu (as we call it in Japanese) for some time and after reading your post, I am now craving for it!!
Ah great, that’s sweet of you to say. Thanks for commenting.
Looks great! I love ma po tofu! I love the way you design your photos with writings!
Me too, one of my favs in fact. Definitely a go to recipe if I want something quick and satisfying. Best Torie
That looks much better than the average ma po tofu! It’s all about the silken tofu and the sauce– it doesn’t really need the meat…
This looks delicious and warming. I will have to give this a go.
Why thank you! It’s one of my favs for a quick, easy and satisfying supper. Enjoy and let me know what you think. Best Torie