Mapo Tofu

Material: Tofu（400g）Minced pork/Minced beef (50g)

Ingredients: Szechwan/Sichuan chilli broad bean paste, Freshly ground Szechwan peppercorn powder, Sweet potato starch/corn starch, Sugar, Light Soy sauce, Salt, MSG, Granulated chicken flavoring powder¹, Ginger, Garlic, Scallion/spring onion, Chilli power，Hot-pot Sauce, Garlic leaves

1. Cut the tofu into cubes with a side length of 1 to 1.5 centimeters² . Finely chop the ginger, garlic, scallion in to small pieces.
2. Put clean water into a wok, then put the tofu in, the amount of water should just cover all the tofu cubes. and put 0.5 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 wok spoon dark soy sauce. Heat the water till it bubbles a lot and all of the tofu cubes are shaking in the water then you can use a filter or a strainer to take them out in a bowl.Add half a bowl of water/meat broth to the tofu, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce to the bowl and 1teaspoon of MSG.
3. Heat the wok, pour 1 wok spoon/shovel of oil into the wok, and then put the minced pork/minced beef to wok, stir fry then add 0.5 tablespoon of chopped ginger, 1 tablespoon of garlic and 0.5 tablespoon of broad-bean paste, 1.5 teaspoon of chilli powder, 1 teaspoon of hot-pot sauce then mix them together. When the fragrance of the mixture comes out, pour tofu with water/broth into the wok.
4. After the water boils, then add 1 teaspoon of chicken powder and sugar³ .
5. Boiling for 2-3 minutes, then add 0.5 tablespoon of corn/potato starch⁴in. The starch can make the sauce thicker and make the tofu cubes tender and tasty. After 5 seconds add 1 tablespoon of corn/potato starch in then mix, then add garlic leaves in. After mix then add 0.5 tablespoon corn/potato starch in the end.
6. Mix them totally, then dish up. Scatter some Szechwan peppercorn⁵powder and scallion on the top as a decoration, then done.

Meat Broth:

Material: Chicken bones or pig bones, Ginger 4 pieces, Spring onion 4 sections(6cm), Sichuan pepper corn a pinch.

1. Put bones in to a big wok, add water to cover all the bones. Turn into high heat, add 2 pieces of ginger and 2 sections of spring onion into.

2. Scoop all the bones out after boiling 2mins, clean all the bones with cold water.

3.Put the clean bones to a clean wok covered with cold water, add another 2 pieces ginger and 2 sections of spring onion and all pepper corn in.

4.Move all the bones and soup to a Casserole after the soup is boiling. You can add 2 more times water to casserole if you wanna more broth, but only boiling water.

Tips:

1. MSG(味精)：it is a kind of seasoning that Chinese people like to use to bring out the freshness of the food. You’d better add it when the dish is about to get ready cause it may bad for your health if you cook it in a over high temperature. Granulated chicken flavoring powder（鸡精）is also know as chicken flavored powder, which is a local flavouring that is mainly made of chicken broth.

2. Do not cut the tofu too small, because tofu is very soft, it might be broken into tiny pieces which are hard for you to take them with chopsticks.

3. Optional:soy sauce. If you want the dish has more savoury flavour you can add more light soy sauce.

4. Corn/potato starch is very important, it can make the sauce thicker, and make the flavor of the sauce to get into the tofu easier. You need to mix it with water in order to use spoon to quantify the amount you need to put in.

5. Szechwanpeppercorn is a kind of local pepper, in Chinese, we call it, Hua Jiao (花椒). It numbs your tongue and it’s an essential seasoning in Mapo Tofu.