Mapo tofu

July 8th, 2008 @ 19:50

We’re planning out weekly food menus again and it’s working wonderfully. We eat better, spend less money and I’m less cranky when it’s already decided what we’re eating.

I’ve had a week and a half of holiday and we’ve been going here and there in Skåne, taking walks and enjoying ourselves. I’ve spent an unholy amount of time in the kitchen making up new recipes and cooking up a storm. It’s been a blast but it’s also been insane in this heat.

Yesterday I cooked up some mapo tofu using a recipe from Vegetarian Times. I was reading through the recipe when I realised it told me to use 12 oz of soy crumbles. I converted it to metirc and thought ‘holy shmoly that can feed and entire nation of hungry people’. Only, it said soy crumbles, not TVP and I don’t have the former.

So, here’s the recipe with my alterations, using TVP instead of packaged soy crumbles. It was soo delicious. This is one of my new absolute favourite dishes! (ps. aren’t my Swedish glasses awesome, they have dala horses on them!)

Mapo tofu

Mapo Tofu:

Serves 4

  • 250 ml (1 cup) TVP mince
  • 600 ml (2½ cups) vegetable stock
  • 1 tbsp chinese soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 4 green onions (about 4 tbsp)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3 tbsp fermented black bean sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 150 ml (2/3 cups) water
  • 1 package (about 400gr/14 oz) firm tofu
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1½ tsp cornstarch
  • 1½ tsp hot chili oil

Put TVP mince in a bowl and reconstitute it using hot vegetable stock. Add the soysauce and stir. While the TVP is swelling prepare the other ingredients. Chop green onions and garlic finely. Drain the tofu and cut it into 1 cm/½ inch cubes. In a large skillet on medium heat, heat canola oil and add garlic and 3 tbsp green onions. Saute for about 2 minutes. Drain the TVP mince of any excess liquid and add it to the pan. Add black bean sauce, sugar and the 150 ml (2/3 cup) water. Bring the mixture to a simmer and then add the tofu cubes. Simmer the tofu for about three minutes, until heated through. Whisk together the cornstarch with 2 tbsp water and add the cornstarch slurry to the pan. Cook for about a minute, until the sauce thickens a bit. Take off the heat and add the chili oil, stir through. Serve with rice and garnish with green onions. A little bit of chinese soy sauce is good with it.

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12 Comments »

12 Comments

  1. That dinner looks great!

    Comment by Wheeler's Frozen Dessert Co. - July 9th, 2008 at 12:19 am

  2. Yum, I’ve only had mapo tofu once but I loved it, so I’ll have to try out your version!

    Comment by theresa - July 9th, 2008 at 4:07 am

  3. Love the cute glasses and the dish looks fantastic. Nice photo.

    Comment by Nikki - July 9th, 2008 at 4:28 am

  4. MMH! That looks delish, Im very tempted to add it to my weekly meal schedule :)

    Also I love dala horses, we have tons in our house. Might be since my mom is from Denmark and my uncle lives in Sweden. Im not sure where, but from Aalborg we can get to the area he lives in only a few hours on the trolley. If that helps any.

    Comment by Sarah - July 9th, 2008 at 7:22 am

  5. I’ve never had mapo tofu, but it’s something I’ve always been interested in trying. And yes, I do love your horsie glasses.

    Comment by Erin - July 9th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

  6. I <3 ma po tofu. It’s time to jump on the meal plan track for me again, too…

    Comment by Steffi - July 9th, 2008 at 9:09 pm

  7. Sounds good to me!

    Comment by Melisser - July 11th, 2008 at 8:17 am

  8. Man blir ju så himla hungrig av din sida, jag vill bara bli hembjuden på massor av smarrig veggiemat. Fattar inte varför vi inte lagar det mer hemma hos oss. Den här sidan är en sann inspirationskälla. Nu ska det bli veggiemat efter jag kommer hem från semestern.

    take care!!

    //T

    Comment by Nostalchic - July 11th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

  9. I’ve never had mapo tofu, but it sure looks good. I dig the glasses!

    Comment by Rural Vegan - July 11th, 2008 at 10:40 pm

  10. I wanted to see if I could recreate the mapo tofu I had recently, and this recipe looks so doable (and delicious!), thanks!

    Comment by Liz² - July 12th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

  11. Ah mapo tofu, I love them :)

    Comment by dreamy - July 13th, 2008 at 3:50 am

  12. jag kom hit från kopandafoods, och antog att det var en utländs blogg, så såg jag dalahästar…så tänkte jag har personen varit i Sverige men det visade sig att personen är svensk! och vegetarian som jag

    Comment by Emelie - September 30th, 2008 at 5:02 pm

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