Mapo-Style Tofu With Mushrooms, Chilli, And Spring Onions Recipe
By Rukmini Iyer
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Easy
My recipe for mapo tofu takes great liberties with Fuchsia Dunlop’s wonderful recipe in Every Grain of Rice – I replace the meat with mushrooms and the wobbly tofu for firm, only because I prefer the texture. It’s perfect with a big bowl of flu!y white rice.
Don’t panic if you can’t find Sichuan chilli bean paste easily, I’ve successfully (if unorthodoxly) used Lee Kum Kee’s chilli garlic sauce, which incorporates fermented soy beans. Once you have either sauce in, you’ll be making this on a regular rotation – it’s addictively good.
This recipe is extracted from The Green Cookbook, by Rukmini Iyer (Square Peg, £25)
Try Rukmini's recipe for Miso Butter Noodles With Tomatoes & Spring Onions or Pine Nut & Herbed-Topped Tofu With Pink Pickled Onions
Ingredients for Mapo-Style Tofu With Mushrooms, Chilli, And Spring Onions
- 225g firm smoked or unsmoked tofu, cut into 1 ½cm cubes
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 250g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
- 4 spring onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts separated)
- 1 inch ginger, finely grated
- 2 cloves garlic, finely grated
- 2 ½ tablespoons Sichuan chilli bean paste (or, in a pinch, another chilli paste-like sauce)
- 1 tablespoon black bean sauce (or 1 tablespoon fermented black beans, if you have them)
- 100ml water
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, ground in a pestle and mortar (optional)
- Sea salt flakes, to taste
- Basmati rice, to serve
How to make Mapo-Style Tofu With Mushrooms, Chilli, And Spring Onions
- Soak the tofu in a heatproof bowl of just-boiled water and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil in a large frying pan or wok over a medium to high heat and add the mushrooms, the white part of the spring onions, the ginger and garlic. Stir-fry for 10 minutes until the moisture has evaporated from the mushrooms. Drain the tofu and pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Add the chilli bean paste and black bean sauce (or their substitutions) to the pan and stir-fry for 30 seconds before adding the water. Stir through, then add the drained tofu and gently stir to mix. Bring to the boil, then gently simmer for 2–3 minutes, adding the remaining sliced spring onion greens for the last 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt as needed.
- Scatter over the ground Sichuan peppercorns (if using), and serve hot with fluffy white rice.
About the author
Rukmini Iyer is the bestselling author of The Roasting Tin Series selling over a a million copies to date (The Roasting Tin; The Green Roasting Tin and The Quick Roasting Tin). She is a recipe writer, food stylist and formerly a lawyer. She loves creating delicious and easy recipes with minimum fuss and maximum flavour. Follow her on Instagram at @missminifer for more recipes and tips.
