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Elevate your Mapo Tofu Recipe: with RedMart

Mapo Tofu - watermark

Mapo tofu is one of those dishes that make a regular appearance at our dinner table. It is cheap and easy to cook and it goes so well with rice!  But recently, I discovered that you can bring it to the next level by using Pixian Dou Ban that we got from Lazada!

In the past I was using chilli dou ban jiang which is easily available from the supermarket. Then I discovered Pixian Dou Ban which has official trademark of geographical indication. That means that in order for the sauce to be called “郫县豆瓣”(Pi Xian Dou Ban) it has to fulfill some stringent criteria eg where it is made, where the chilli is sourced etc.  You can read more about it here.

Pi Xian Dou Ban Jiang - fermented bean paste from Pi Xian
Pi Xian Dou Ban Jiang – fermented bean paste from Pi Xian.  Look out for the 4 Chinese Characters written in the special font for authenticity

Pixian Dou Ban is still not widely available but thankfully you can easily order it online together with all the other ingredients for Mapo Tofu!  Don’t you just love the convenience of online grocery shopping?

Use the right Tofu
Silken vs Pressed Tofu
Silken vs Pressed Tofu

We are spoilt for choice when it comes to tofu.  A common mistake when making this dish is to use silken tofu instead of the pressed tofu. Silken tofu is great for soups or simply on it’s own with soy sauce, pork floss and creamy century egg, but I digress…

For mapo tofu, you want to use pressed tofu which is firmer and won’t crumble when you stir it in the wok, yet it remains fairly soft and silky.  Do not use tau kwa as it would be too firm for this dish.

Ingredients

Pressed Tofu x 1
Block Minced pork 150g or Pork Collar 150g
Chopped Ginger x 2 Tbsp
Garlic x 4 cloves chopped
Spring Onion (white part) x2
Pixian Dou Ban x 1.5 Tbsp (chopped)
Fermented black beans x2 tsp
Light Soy sauce to taste
Dark Soy sauce (for color)
Sichuan Peppercorn (ground)
Spring onions (green part) (chopped) x2 tsp
Chinese Wine 1 Tbsp
Black Vinegar 1 tsp
Cornflour 2 tsp dissolved in water

Method

1. Cut tofu into 1.2cm cubes and simmer for 5mins.
2. Fry ginger, garlic, and white part of spring onions till fragrant.
3.  Add minced pork and fry till fully cooked
4.  Add some oil to the wok and fry the Pixian dou ban till the oil turns red
5.  Add fermented black beans and 1 cup water
6. Add Chinese wine and black vinegar and adjust to taste
7.  Drain tofu and add to the sauce and simmer
8.  Thicken with cornflour slurry
9.  Garnish with spring onions and sprinkle with Sichuan peppercorn powder

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Do check out other recipes using ingredients available on RedMart:
Tea-smoked Salmon recipe
Steak with Mushroom sauce
Crispy Chicken with Colonial Curry Sauce
Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe
Mapo Tofu Recipe

Also read about: RedMart supplier stories
Red Dot Farm – high tech veggie farm
BluCurrent – smart fish farm
Seng Choon Farm – egg farm

Disclosure:
– This post was written in collaboration with RedMart.
– Some links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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I could not find the Pixian douban on Redmart, to my surprise, but found it on Lazada and bought that.

Thanks Elaine. Yes, you’re right. We actually got the Pixian Dou Ban from Lazada. The links in the post point to the ingredient in Lazada. Thanks for your feedback, we’ve made some edits in the post so it is clear. Glad you found it in any case and hope you enjoy cooking this recipe! 🙂

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