Time: An hour
Quantity: 2 portions


Ingredients

  • 1lb Soft tofu
  • 2 Green onion
  • 100g Ground pork
  • 1.5 tbsp Pixian dou ban jiang (minced)
  • 4-5 cloves Garlic (minced)
  • an inch or two Ginger
  • 1 cup Chicken stock

Recipe:

  1. Drain tofu and cut into 2cm cubes; blanch in a lightly salted pot of water and let sit.
  2. Heat three tablespoons of cooking oil in a wok and fry the pork. Add the doubanjiang and simmer gently to release the oil and stain the sauce a deep red.
  3. Add minced garlic, ginger, and Chinese chili powder (other chili powders are too mild, IMHO).
  4. Fry together until fragrant, then add in chicken stock and fold in the tofu.
  5. After reduced by a third add a tsp soy sauce, a tsp of liao jiu, 1/4 tsp msg, white pepper powder, and some sesame oil.
  6. Thicken with cornstarch slurry and finish with green onions and ground sichuan peppercorn on top.

Notes

The ground pork is best ground by hand using two cleavers; with such a small amount it takes very little time.

Sichuan peppercorn powder is best also ground by hand by first frying in a dry wok until fragrant and leaving oil droplets then grinding in a mortal and pestle (the smell is incredible).

Fermented black bean paste is also traditional and can be added after the doubanjiang. I've unfortunately never had any on hand while making this.

This recipe is a mixture between the Chinese Cooking Demystified approach and Fuscia Dunlop's version. There are some minor differences in technique that I averaged over.