beijing okay

麻婆豆腐

or

(mapo doufu, say "Mah Pu-oh doh foo")

You'll need the ingredients above.

This is a classic Sichuan dish with a colorful story, like most Chinese dishes. In a small town hundreds of years ago, there was an old woman with leprosy who lived on the outskirts. She was shunned by everyone but, in spite of this, decided to open an inn. One day, some travelers got caught in the rain and decided to stay with the old woman. They were horrified by her appearance, but loved her cooking, especially her tofu dish. It soon became so popular that locals and travelers visited the inn just for her tofu. The Chinese name is literally "Grandmother's spicy tofu," but is also translated as "Pock-marked Grandmother Chen's tofu."

You need
---
1 tub soft tofu about one lb finely minced beef
4 cloves garlic
couple teaspoons finely minced ginger
4 stalks green onion
2 tbs (or so) fermented black bean, or broad bean, paste
1 tbs chili oil
4-5 dried chillis
a couple jiggers light soy sauce
a couple jiggers dark (preferably mushroom) soy sauce
a jigger rice wine, light (unsalted and drinking quality)
a teaspoon or so sesame oil
sugar
salt
1/2 ground black pepper
1 1/2 tbs sichuan peppercorns, crushed
cornstarch
5 or so fresh water chestnuts, peeled and finely sliced (optional)
1/2 cup finely minced oyster mushrooms (optional)
peanut oil
---

First, fined mince beef. Add about 1 teaspoon salt, sugar, peanut oil, chili oil and cornstarch, mix and place in fridge for 15 minutes.

Heat enough peanut oil to coat a pan on medium. Add garlic , dried chili, ginger, bean paste and fry until fragrant (under 1 m) Add beef. Cook for a minute, then add rice wine, 4 tbs water, mushrooms and water chestnuts. Add beancurd then a bit of soy sauce, pinch of sugar, Sichuan peppercorns, black pepper and cook for two minutes, turning the tofu carefully. Mix 1 tbs cornstarch with 2 tbs water and add. Cook for two more minutes then remove from heat. Serve with a vegetable side dish and rice.

(Veggie option: Use TVP instead of beef, but when marinating this add another tablespoon of peanut oil to make up for the oil that the beef would have released.)