I used 1/2 teaspoon and even that I removed after sautéing in the oil. If you like the flavor, you can increase the amount to even 2 teaspoons. I have drastically reduced the quantity of Sichuan peppercorns in this recipe. If you are new to it, this might be a bit too much for your taste buds. I also crushed it and then added it- you guys my dish was just inedible. While working on this recipe, I read about the origins of this dish and of course there’s no mapo tofu without Sichuan peppercorns. It’s also very strong- a little goes a long way! I can say this confidently that I have never had anything like this. It has a very floral aroma, and when you put it into your mouth, it has this tingling sensation and then some kind of metallic and numbing sensation afterwards. Sichuan peppercorns: if you have never tried this before let me tell you this is nothing like black peppercorns, not even remotely similar. You can use whatever mushrooms you like but I prefer using shiitake mushrooms here. They have to be minced for this recipe or very finely chopped, I use my food chopper for this, works well. Mushrooms: the mushrooms replace the meat in this vegan version of mapo tofu. So, if you want you can definitely do this additional step. I honestly did not find a very big difference but I thought the one which boiled in water for a bit was a little more firm. I tried one batch without adding tofu to hot water and another batch with tofu in hot water for 4 to 5 minutes. This tofu is very soft so it breaks easily. One of the things that I learned while reading more about this recipe is that since the tofu is so soft here, you can actually heat it in water for few minutes and that helps firm it up a bit. Do not use extra-firm tofu for this recipe. I am not a fan of soft tofu and extra-firm works better in Indian recipes so it’s always my choice of tofu.īut for this mapo tofu, you need soft tofu or sliken tofu. Tofu: whenever I cook tofu, I always pick the extra-firm variety. You can find all these ingredients either at your local Asian grocery store or on amazon. I highly recommend getting these ingredients if you want to make more such recipe. These are not ingredients which you will like have at home until and unless you are Asian of course. Mapo Tofu recipe uses some specialty ingredients. Since I can’t handle so much heat, I have modified the recipe a lot according to my taste and hence the disclaimer in the beginning. Sichuan peppercorns give this dish it’s characteristic numbing sensation. The main flavor of mapo tofu comes from it’s star ingredients like Sichuan peppercorns, spicy bean paste (more on these ingredients below). Traditionally mapo tofu is made with soft tofu and pork but of course I am sharing a vegan version where I replaced the meat with mushrooms. This region is famous for it’s spicy food and mapo tofu is no exception. It’s a famous dish from Sichuan region in China. It’s spicy, has so much flavor and I love it with some jasmine or brown rice. Tofu is commonly used in Asian recipes and Mapo tofu happens to be a popular recipe that’s often on the menu. Unfortunately I have never travelled to any of these countries so my knowledge of the cuisine is pretty limited to what I have eaten in restaurants in the US. Oh how I miss travel and those adventures!Ĭoming back to food though, I have always loved Asian cuisine. When we went to Paris, I literally searched for days on where to find the best croissants or gelato and pretty sure we went to each and every place. It’s like our travel plans revolved around food. In fact whenever we would plan our travels, we would first check all the cool restaurants in the area and then plan our days accordingly. There also has been zero traveling and for me, traveling and food go hand in hand. Sure we do take outs all the time but it’s just not the same. Well, obviously that hasn’t been possible for the last one year and I terribly miss it. One of the main reasons I loved eating out was because you get to try so many new things when you eat out. I have also made it in a way which is more suitable to my palate (less heat) so this is far from an authentic Sichuan version. This dish is inspired by few vegan versions of mapo tofu that I have tried in restaurants and also from this recipe. Pair it with jasmine rice for a filling meal.ĭisclaimer: this is in no way an authentic recipe for Mapo Tofu. Vegan version of the popular Sichuan dish, this Mapo Tofu has a nice kick to it from the Sichuan peppercorns and fermented beans paste.
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