Mabo Tofu is originally from China, but one of the most popular meals in Japan.
There are a lot of recipes in Japanese and I found this is the best. Based on the recipe in Japanese (linked at the bottom of this page), I do slightly differently. I saute grounded pork first until it fully cooked before adding ginger, garlic and green onion. This is the trick to avoid unique smell of pork.
Ingredients
1 pack of Tofu (about 300-400g)- cut in 1.5cm cubes
150-200g of ground pork * Could be beef or chicken too.
1 clove of garlic- chopped
1 small piece of ginger (Similar size as 1 clove of garlic) -chopped
1/2-1 green onion- chopped
1-2 teaspoons of Doubanjiang (To-ban Jian)
2 tablespoons of Sake
1 tablespoon of Tianmianjiang (Sweet Bean Sauce)
1 tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2 tablespoons of chicken stock powder
1/2 tablespoons of sugar (ideally brown sugar)
250cc of water *If you add eggplants or vermicelli, 350-400cc should be the best.
potato starch (Or corn starch)
1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil
Instruction
1. Heat a pan or a wok, and add 1 tablespoon of oil,then cook grounded pork until it is fully cooked.
2. Add chopped garlic, ginger and green onion to 1, and cook.
3. Add Doubanjiang to 2, stir well.
4. Add Sake, Tianmianjiang, soy sauce, chicken stock powder, sugar and water, and let simmer for a while.
5. Add Tofu to 4.
6. Prepare potato starch (1-2 tablespoons) and 2-3 tablespoons of water in a small bowl and mix well.Turn the head down, pour potato starch water slowly into 5 while mixing until you get the consistency you like.
7. Turn off the heat and add sesame oil at the end.
Options
You can add Chinese vermicelli or cubed eggplants.
If you want to add vermicelli, soak it in boiled water for 2 mins, drain off completely and cut in 2-3cm. Add it when you add Tofu.
If you like eggplants, cut in about 2cm cubes, stir fly first and keep separately. After ingredients and water (step4), add them.
