Despite my claim that I'd much rather eat tofu out, sometimes I do cook it at home, and my Ma Po Tofu (below) is a pretty simple recipe---for Chinese food, that is. If you aren't raised Chinese, and you can see I'm not, it never becomes really simple, but there are a couple of things that will help. Ok, I'll come clean here: we lived in Hong Kong for 2 years, so I did learn some things about Cantonese cooking, which usually uses very fresh ingredients.
The only hard and fast rule is when coming to stir frying (chowing) food, is: make sure all your ingredients are chopped and measured out before you start to fry, because the frying part is really quick and you don't have time to chop out stuff between adding it to your pan.
The other secret behind urban Cantonese cooking: the veg and meat may be fresh, but most people rely on bottled sauces and spice pastes for the added flavour: soy sauce, hoisin sauce, black bean and garlic sauce, chili bean paste, chili sauce, sesame oil. I use enough fresh garlic (in EVERYTHING, ok, not chocolate cake. Yet!) and ginger that I keep it on hand, but I have friends who regularly resort to the bottled stuff and it's usually fine.
I use Lee Kum Kee sauces a lot, and in fact, I just discovered they make a ma po tofu sauce that makes the whole thing pig easy. I've never used it but you can go here for their recipe. Let me know how it tastes if you make it.
Another cheat that people keep in the closet --- powdered stock packets or cubes. I often make my own stock, but if you just want a half cup or so in a recipe where you've got a whole bunch of the other stuff like soy and chili sauce, you can't really discern if it's real stock, so go ahead and use the quick stuff. Just be careful about how much total salt is in the dish, because so many of the bottled sauces and pastes already have a lot of salt.
Oh yeah, about rice: You know why most Asian families/restaurants you know have a rice cooker? It makes rice STUPIDLY SIMPLE! I have a family size one, (you can get smaller ones) but it's not the fancy expensive type with lots of insulation and a flip up lid, it's the cheap type that you can buy for under 30 dollars with the glass lid. It still makes great rice, it just doesn't keep it warm nicely all day, more like an hour or two. Even though there are only 2 of us, I will make enough for a few meals and refrigerate or freeze the rest to throw in the nuker later. The only extra secret is: forget the directions (if any) on the bag of rice, follow the directions that come with your cooker.
Anyone who thinks of tofu as a bland, tasteless food hasn’t tried this dish. A Chinese restaurant staple, Ma Po Tofu is incredibly easy to make at home and can be assembled and cooked in far less than the amount of time it takes to cook up some plain rice. Since there is a little meat in the dish, people who aren’t overly fond of tofu may find it more palatable here; the soft cloudlike blandness of the tofu makes an interesting counterpoint to the other crunchy and spicy ingredients in the dish.
I usually use broccoli in mine, but I have to admit that my favorite Chinese restaurant uses frozen mixed veg in theirs! To my mind, this is supposed to be humble weeknight home cooking, not chichi-poopoo stuff, so go ahead and use whatever veg you have on hand. I have to admit that I often forget to buy scallions. Guess what? I’ll use a little chopped white cooking onion! I just don’t bother garnishing with it.
Ma Po Tofu (from somewhere on the web with my own variations)
about 20 minutes
serves 4
1 package tofu, soft, regular, or firm [not silken], about a pound drained weight
8 oz lean minced pork [or substitute lean ground turkey or pork if you prefer]
4 cups broccoli florets (about 1" size pieces) or your favourite stir fry vegetables
3-4 cloves garlic
3-4 stalks scallions (reserve a small handful for garnishing the dish)
2 tbsp chili bean paste
1 Tb soy sauce
1 Tb of hoisin sauce, optional, if you like it a little sweeter, or a half tsp sugar or honey
1 tsp sesame oil
1 heaping Tb cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water
1 tsp cooking oil (more if you want)
½ to 1 cup water or low sodium stock (just because there is already a lot of salt in the soy and chili bean paste) a stock cube or packet will do fine in a pinch
a few coarsely crushed peanuts or cashews for garnish, optional
1. Mince garlic and chop scallions finely. Drain 1 package of tofu and cut into ¾" cubes.
2. Add oil to a wok and heat on medium high. Stir-fry the ground meat. When meat is no longer pink, add the chopped garlic and stir.
3. Add the broccoli, scallions, chili bean paste, and soy sauce, then stir.
4. Add tofu at this point if it is the firm variety, if soft, add later because it will start to crumble too much at this point. Add enough stock or water to almost [but not quite] cover, stir.
5. Let mixture come to a boil, stirring occasionally, and cook for 5 minutes or until broccoli is almost crisp tender.
6. Taste; add more soy if it doesn’t taste salty enough, more chili bean paste if it’s not spicy enough, the hoisin/sweet stuff if you like it a little sweeter.
7. Stir in the cornstarch paste; cook until the sauce starts to thicken. Add soft tofu at this point if using, stir gently to cover in sauce but try not to break it up too much.
8. Pour into a shallow bowl - it's supposed to be a little saucy or soupy - and drizzle with sesame oil. Sprinkle with the remaining scallions and the nuts, if desired. Serve with plenty of steamed brown or white rice.
Sigh... once again I stray into foodblog territory. Terminally Unique? Not really, just another food addled bozo on the bus!
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