Ma Po Tofu - a Chinese Spicy Pork and Tofu Dish

I've fancied making this for a long time and only got round to it last week.  However, it seems there are so many different recipes out there!  All varieing on the amount of peppercorns used and some using chilli powder and spicy bean paste.  Some using only chilli powder. So, after studying several different recipes this is what I came up with.  

  Tofu (in my opinion) is right strange stuff - quite why anyone would really want to eat it I'll never know - but saying that, I'd have it again in this dish as the spices liven it up.  On it's own it tastes of nothing and it's wobbly!  (Oh, oh in now will come emails from people that don't agree with me)!

If my recipe is right or wrong this was one amazing dish that I will be making again.  It's one of those things you just want to keep eating - even when you've only just finished! 

   Doubanjiang is a spicy, salty paste made from fermented broad beans, soybeans, salt, rice, and various spices.  Now, I didn't have such a thing in my cupboard.  But I did have a nice tub of Gochujang, which is similar as in it's a very spicy bean paste used in Korean cuisine and so I used that.

To serve 2 you will need:
300g block silken tofu

200g pork mince
2 and a half tablespoons groundnut oil (peanut oil)
1 tablespoon chili oil
2 gloves garlic - finely chopped
fresh ginger - peeled and finely chopped to make 1 teaspoon
2 tablespoons spicy bean paste (Gochujang)
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon szechuan peppercorns - toasted then ground to powder
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaohsing (Chinese rice wine)
1 teaspoon fermented black beans - rinsed and finely chopped
100ml water
2 spring onions - sliced into 1 inch lengths
tiny pinch of salt - if needed

*Optional - thinly sliced red chilli to garnish

How to do it:
Drain the water from the tofu and cut into small cubes then set aside.
Heat up your wok and pour in the groundnut and chili oil.
Add the pork, chopped garlic, ginger and spicy bean paste and sugar. 
Stir-fry until the pork is just half cooked.

Now add the toasted and ground szechuan peppercorns, soy sauce, Shaohsing and fermented black beans.
Stir-fry for a minute of so.
Carefully tip in the tofu and the water.  Stir very gently to mix the tofu into the sauce being careful not to break the cubes.
Lower the heat and simmer for about 3 to 5 mins or until the sauce thickens up a bit.
Now add in the sliced spring onions.  Have a taste and add a small pinch of salt if you need to.
Stir again carefully because of the tofu and serve straight away with rice.
Garnish with the sliced chilli if you fancy.

If you love the kind of spiciness that makes your lips tingle then this is for you!

Don't forget you can buy Szechuan peppercorns and Gochujang from my 

 Spice and Chilli shop.