Ma Po Tofu

When I first started this blog, I was posting all the food that I love and I cooked week by week but after the first month, I decided I want to focus more on baked goods- mainly sweets! Since then I haven’t posted up any savoury dishes but I thought I really should share some of my favourite dishes here from time to time. Ma Po Tofu fits right into this category! I love dish that has lots of sauce because it goes so well with steamed rice. This dish is full of strong, bold flavour, a bit spicy but you can always adjust the amount of chilli flakes you put in it. I love ordering this dish when I am in Hong Kong, but I don’t get to do it that often now being in Melbourne, so I want to learn how to make it so I can always make it at home. This is real authentic way to make Ma Po Tofu, also a very simple way too! Not much preparation at all, a quick, no mess dish! You only need to cut up the tofu into cubes and chop up some spring onions for garnish! You really have to try this!

Ingredients

• Firm Tofu, cut into small cubes
• Pork Mince 150g
• a bunch of Spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon of mince garlic
• ¾ teaspoon of chilli flakes

Sauce

• 3-4 teaspoon of Bean Curd Paste
• ¾ teaspoon of sugar
• 4 teaspoon of water
• 2 teaspoon of corn starch

Marinade pork mince with:

• 1 ½ teaspoon of soya sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoon of dark soya sauce
• ½ teaspoon of sugar
• a pinch of white pepper
• a few drops of sesame oil

Method:

1. Marinade pork mince with above ingredients for 10-15 minutes.
2. Heat oil in wok til hot, fry garlic, chilli flakes and pork mince til mince is cooked and brown.
3. Add bean curd paste in wok to fry for a minute, then add in tofu and chicken stock, stir gently to mix everything together (**be careful not to break the tofu**)
4. Cover wok with wok lid and continue to cook for a further 4 minutes on medium heat.
5. Meanwhile mix water and corn starch to make a thin paste.
6. Add in this paste after 4 minutes cooking time, this paste will thicken up the sauce.
7. Sprinkle spring onions on top to finish the dish. Serve hot with steamed rice.