A vegan dish, so good that even meat lovers will not say no to this. A very popular Chinese vegetarian dish, widely eaten by locals is mapo tofu. Bursting with flavors and a spicy kick, we have finally found an authentic mapo tofu recipe for you all.
A perfect main course item to pair with a bowl of hot rice. Incredibly tasty and delicious, this super easy mapo tofu recipe is indeed one of our favorites.
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Simple Mapo Tofu Recipe – Super Hot And Scrumptious!
Looking for a yummy vegetarian mapo tofu recipe? Well, you have stumbled upon the right page as this recipe is 100 percent vegan and vegetarian!
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil for cooking
- Soft Tofu Block, you can also use medium firm or firm tofu block cut into small cubes
- 2-3 Green Onions, finely chopped
- 5-6 Garlic Cloves, finely minced
- ½ Ginger, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 Onion, finely chopped
- Shitake Mushroom, either rip it off with your hands into small pieces or finely dice it
- 2 tbsp. Chili Oil
- 2-3 fresh Red Chilies, chopped (optional)
- 2-3 tbsp. Soy Sauce
- 2 tbsp. Corn flour
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1-2 tbsp. Doubanjiang (fermented chili bean sauce)
- Sichuan Pepper, freshly ground, you can also use Sichuan pepper powder
- 1-1 ½ cups of Mushroom broth
- Salt as per taste
A Complete Guide To Mapo Tofu Recipe – Easy And Tasty!
- For this mapo tofu recipe, first, boil some water and then add a bit of salt to the pot. Now, slowly and steadily, add the tofu cubes to the boiling water.
- Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes and then take the tofu cubes out of the hot water and keep aside. Meanwhile, in another cooking dish, heat some vegetable oil.
- Add ginger and garlic to the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes. Later on, add chopped onions and green onions to the cooking dish and sauté for 3-4 minutes.
- Once the onions look translucent, drizzle a bit of chili oil and put doubanjiang in the pot. Cook for a while and then flavour your mapo tofu with some soy sauce and sugar.
- If you like it extra spicy, you can also add some finely chopped red chilies to the sauce base. In case you are making it for kids, feel free to adjust the spices and quantity of chilies.
- Now, add the shitake mushrooms and sauté for a while. Next, gently put the tofu cubes in the pot and with the help of a spatula, slightly toss it with your prepared sauce and mushrooms.
- Side by side, in a small bowl, prepare a cornstarch slurry with cornstarch and water. Later on, add the mushroom broth and cornstarch slurry to the cooking dish.
- With the help of a spatula, mix everything gently, make sure to not break any of the tofu cubes. Put the lid on and let it simmer for 5-8 minutes.
- Garnish this delish mapo tofu with some fresh green onions. You can either serve this yummy vegan dish with some piping hot rice. Or, to make it look more fancy, pair it up with mixed noodles or fried rice.
Key Takeaways
Traditionally in mapo tofu recipe Hawaii style, ground pork is used for additional flavour. But here, we have substituted the same with shitake mushrooms. We all know that these mushrooms have a meaty texture and thus, they beautifully blend with the tofu. The above mapo tofu recipe is perfect for vegetarians out there.
In case, you don’t have access to mushroom broth, you can also make this dish with normal vegetable broth or water. In case, you are a non-vegetarian, feel free to modify the above recipe. Use minced beef or ground pork as a replacement for chopped shitake mushrooms. The next important element of this dish is doubanjiang, the whole recipe is built on this particular chili bean paste.
Lastly, Sichuan pepper powder is also another noteworthy ingredient of this dish. It is not just a tasty vegetarian or vegan main course, but it is also healthy and filled with essential nutrients, iron and calcium. Coming to calories, it will surely vary according to the portion size and per person serving, but a bowl of mapo tofu will generally contain 480 to 500 calories.
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