Vegetarian

Vegetarian mapo tofu

The Sichuan classic made with mushrooms instead of pork: silky tofu in a spicy, numbing bean-paste sauce.

  • 30 min15 prep · 15 cook
  • MediumDifficulty
  • 260 kcalper serving

Ingredients

4 servings
  • Soft tofu500 g
  • Shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped200 g
  • Doubanjiang (chilli bean paste)2 tbsp
  • garlic3 cloves
  • Grated fresh ginger1 tbsp
  • Sichuan peppercorns, ground1 tsp
  • Soy sauce1 tbsp
  • Vegetable stock250 ml
  • Cornflour1 tbsp
  • Vegetable oil3 tbsp
  • Spring onions2
  • Chilli oil1 tbsp

Missing something? Ingredients with × can be left out.

Steps

  1. 1

    Cut the tofu into 2 cm cubes and soak them in hot salted water while you cook, so they firm up a little.

  2. 2

    Fry the mushrooms in the oil over high heat until browned and dry.

  3. 3

    Add the doubanjiang, garlic and ginger and fry until the oil turns red.

  4. 4

    Pour in the stock and soy sauce, then slide in the drained tofu. Simmer gently without stirring, just pushing with the back of a spoon.

  5. 5

    Mix the cornflour with 3 tbsp water, add it in two goes and let the sauce thicken and turn glossy.

  6. 6

    Finish with the chilli oil, Sichuan pepper and sliced spring onion. Serve with steamed rice.

Tips and questions
Why does my tofu break up?
Soft tofu is fragile: soak it in hot salted water first and push it gently instead of stirring.
How can I make it less spicy?
Use half the doubanjiang, skip the chilli oil and reduce the Sichuan pepper.

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