Signature Si Chuan Dish
When talking about Si Chuan signature dish, what is the first dish that pop-up in your mind? For me, and I’m sure many of you do, is – the Ma Po Tofu!
Where did the Ma Po Tofu come from?
Ma Po tofu is a such mouth-watering dish for almost all hot lovers. By word of mouth, Ma Po tofu was first formulated by a restaurant owner called “Ma Po”. She used the leftover of tofu and meat to serve the workers who came at late night. This delectable and economical dish quickly became one of the most signature dish in the restaurant.
How do Ma Po Tofu Taste?
The combination of tofu and chili in ma po tofu is like a perfect match – the tofu adsorbed all the flavours come from chili and Si Chuan pepper and burst in your mouth. The smoothness from tofu, spiciness from chili and the numbness from Si Chuan pepper all come at once!
(Image of Chili powder (left) and Si Chuan Pepper powder (right))
At the end of this tasting journey, the saltiness from minced pork pushes you to eat a few mouthful of rice. Unconsciously, you ate one bowl of rice but you still want to have one more. This is the greatness of Ma Po tofu!
Spicy Tofu with Minced Pork (Chinese Ma Po Tofu 麻婆豆腐)
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 200 g Pork Mince
- 400 g Tofu
- 3 gloves Garlic
- 5 slices Ginger
- 1 bunch Spring Onion
- 100 ml Water
Sauces
- 2 tbsp Chili Bean Sauce
- 1 tsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Si Chuan Pepper Powder
- 1 tsp Chinese Chili Powder
- 2 tsp Chinese Chili Oil
- 1 tsp Sugar
Thicken Starch Water
- 1 tsp Potato Starch
- 2 tsp Water
Instructions
- Prepare all ingredients and sauces. Chop spring onions and mince the garlic and ginger.
- Dice Tofu into size of 3cm x 3cm. Soap the tofu in salted water for 3-5 minutes and lift it up.
- Heat the pan/wok with 1 tbsp oil. Add spring onion, garlic and ginger, and hence add pork mince to fry until it turn colour.
- Add chili bean sauce, soy sauce, chili powder (Optional) and Si Chuan pepper powder to the pork mince and keep stir fry it well. Add 100ml water into it.
- Add tofu and sugar into the pan/wok and let it cook under low heat for 5 minutes.
- Add thicken starch water into the pan/wok and let the sauce become thicken. Add chili oil (Optional) and you can taste the traditional Si Chuan flavours!
