A traditional Chinese Szechuan province recipe that has many variations!
Chen Mapo Doufu is the full name of any Mapo recipe. The Chen family first created this tofu entree. Many chefs and Chinese restaurants separate the word Mapo into its two root words, Ma and Po. Ma is short for the word mazi. Mazi refers to a disfigured person who has severe pockmarks or leprosy. Po translates to old woman. Mapo means old pock marked woman. Doufu is Chinese for tofu. Mapo Doufu is an old pock marked woman's style of tofu! There is a few stories about the origin of this recipe and one of the most believable stories describes how a Chen family member, who was an old pock marked woman, sold this tofu entree and beef to travelers from her home on a busy trade route on the outskirts of a city. Mapo Doufu became popular with laborers and hard working people. The old woman made enough money to open her own restaurant and her specialty was her own Mapo Doufu recipe. Beef was usually served with the Mapo Doufu or it was added to the recipe by customer request. The original Mapo Doufu was very spicy and only enough dark chile paste sauce was made to cling to the ingredients. Many variations of Mapo Doufu are quite saucy, like the one that I cooked in the pictures above. Traditionally in China, fresh seafood is only used in recipes near the coastline and only dried seafood is used for recipes inland. Dried seafood is often prepared with a saucy recipe. The dried tiny shrimp in this version of Mapo Doufu add a savory umami flavor to the sauce. Plenty of Szechuan pepper was in the original Mapo Doufu recipe. Szechuan pepper numbs the mouth, so poor laborers with bad teeth were able to enjoy a good meal with less dental pain. After modern dentistry became common practice, the amount of Szechuan pepper still remained high in Mapo Doufu recipes, because this recipe bacame a tradition. Szechuan pepper is in the prickly ash tree family and it is not in the peppercorn family of plants, but it does have the topical numbing quality of Pacific island piper mysticum root (Kava Kava). Szechuan pepper gives relief to aching teeth and it has a complex peppercorn flavor that causes interesting taste bud sensory changes. Kava Kava is in the peppercorn family of plants and Kava Kava root is used in Islands around Vanuatu as an intoxicant that has strong numbing and mild euphoric qualities. Local natives sometimes hold Kava Kava infused water in their mouth when their teeth hurt. I have drank Kava Kava many times and it does make for a pleasant relaxing evening. There are good native sources for Kava Kava directly from Vanuatu on the internet and another good source is the Bouncing Bear Botanicals link at the bottom of this page. Kava Kava has a very strong pleasant black pepper flavor, but it is almost never used in recipes. It is a traditional drink of Pacific islanders. Today's recipe is a saucy version of Mapo Doufu that features a popular combination of dried shrimp and onions. Plenty of chile peppers and chile pepper sauce is in this recipe, but do not fear the spicy heat! All the chile peppers in this recipe are mild to mild medium hot on the Scoville chile pepper heat scale.
Dried Shrimp and Onion Mapo Doufu: Soak 1/4 cup of tiny dried shrimp in 1/2 cup of water for 1 hour. Heat a saute pan or wok over medium, medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add 3 crushed garlic cloves. Add 1 teaspoon of minced ginger. Saute for about 5 to 10 seconds, till the garlic and ginger become aromatic. Add 3/4 cup of small chopped onion. Add 1 or 2 thin sliced jalapeno peppers. Add 2 tablespoons of chopped green bell pepper. Saute till the vegetables start to become tender. Add the soaked dried shrimp and the soaking liquid. Add 1 cup of shrimp broth. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of red bean paste. (red miso paste) Stir till the bean paste becomes part of the sauce. Add 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce. Add 1/4 teaspoon of Chinese chile powder. Add sea salt. Add 12 crushed and minced Szechuan peppercorns. Add 1/3 cup of Sriracha Hot Sauce. (Sriracha is a mild, semi sweet, garlic and red serrano chile pepper sauce. Add 1/2 tablespoon of thin soy sauce. Add 1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil. Add 1/4 cup of tomato puree. Reduce the temperature to medium/medium low heat. Simmer and reduce the sauce, till it becomes a medium thin sauce consistency. Add 2 green onions that are bias sliced into small bite size pieces. Add 6 large triangle shape pieces of firm tofu that are 1/2" thick and weigh about 2 to 3 ounces apiece. Simmer till the tofu becomes hot. Overlap the tofu triangles across a plate. Spoon a little bit of sauce over the tofu and place the rest of the sauce on the plate around the tofu. Serve with steamed sticky rice on the side. No garnish is necessary!
This is a tasty saucy Mapo Doufu version that is great for warming up after spending the day outdoors in chilly weather. Seafood tolerant vegetarians will like this dried shrimp and onion version. Yum! ... Shawna
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