{mapo tofu in hermie}

People often say that eating tofu is boring and tasteless however, I have grown up eating it in it's many forms and have never thought this. When I married my hubs I wasn't sure what he was used to eating for dinner and when I made this for him, he thought it was 'the bomb' (his words... not mine). It has a bit of everything from texture, spiciness, silkiness and sauce. It's so yummy that Miss I loves to eat it with steamed rice soaking up all the tasty sauce.

2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled
10 grams vegetable oil (I use canola)
250-300 grams pork mince
400-500 grams silken tofu, cubed in 4 cm pieces
150 grams of 'char choy', soaked for 1 hour, rinsed and cut into small fat sticks (optional)
3 tablespoons chilli bean sauce
1 heaped teaspoon cornflour
75 ml cold water
300 ml hot water
2 spring onions, chopped into 1 cm pieces

1. Add garlic cloves to TM bowl, chop 3 sec / speed 7.
2. Add oil and pork mince. Saute 6 mins / varoma / stir speed.
3. While the mince is cooking, place tofu in a dish that will fit into the varoma. I use a 6 cup capacity pyrex rectangular dish. Place into varoma for later.
4. When the mince beeps, scrape down sides, add the char choy (if applicable) and saute  4 mins/ varoma/ stir speed / reverse.
5. Add chilli bean sauce to TM bowl and saute 2mins / varoma / stir speed / reverse.
6. Scrape sides of bowl. Mix cornflour with cold water in MC and add to TM bowl.
7. Add hot water to TM bowl and mix with spatula. Place varoma on top of TM bowl.
8. Cook and steam tofu for 10mins/ speed 1/ varoma / reverse.
9. Place spring onions into bottom of thermoserver. When tofu is steamed hot, add to thermoserver.
10. Check the mapo tofu sauce. If it is still a bit runny, reduce by cooking a further 5mins/ speed 1/ varoma/ reverse. Sit for 5 minutes and pour over the tofu. Mix through before serving. Serve with steamed rice.

Mapo Tofu served with steamed rice & bak choi

Serves 6 as part of a shared meal.

Bon Appetit xx

Note: 'Char Choy' is the name of the mustard green vegetable that has been preserved using a salting method. It can be found in packets in all good Asian grocers along with the  Chilli Bean Sauce (which is also known as toban jan). I use the below brand as it does not have MSG added. 

Chilli Bean Sauce (Toban Jan)

Mustard Green Salted (Taiwanese)

Tips: This can very easily be made on the stove the traditional way and it tastes just as good. I know it's not traditional but I also sometime add cubes of eggplant at step 4 to add more vegetable to the dish.