Mapo Tofu

A Sichuanese fiery, calcium-rich meal with a back story

If you gave me a block of tofu and asked me to make you a meal, my first question to you would be:

Can you eat spicy?

I’m secretly hoping the answer is yes, because one of my favourite tofu dishes to cook and eat is 麻婆豆腐 Mapo Tofu. It’s a very well known Chinese tofu dish hailing from Sichuan province.

Mapo Tofu - this savoury, numbing spicy dish is a comfort meal over rice

There are different kinds of spicy…some are just ‘hit and run’ spicy - an explosion of heat before disappearing… and then there is Sichuan spicy. Sichuanese people use chilli with Sichuan peppercorns to give that characteristic 麻辣 (málà) - numbing spicy taste. I must say it’s a pretty thrilling kind of spicy. You get more than the savoury flavours and the heat, it also leaves a slight sour, tingling numbing sensation on your tongue. That thrill is what keeps you wanting to take another bite.

I can still remember the first time I tried authentic Sichuan Mapo Tofu at a restaurant in Melbourne’s Chinatown. I was still figuring out my spice tolerance at the time. That Mapo Tofu was at a ‘mouth-numbing, pass-me-the-milk-but-I-want-to-keep-eating-it’ level of spicy. Every bite was progressively more spicy and numbing, yet at the same time, the rich savoury sauce over rice was incredibly enticing.

I developed a deeper appreciation for mala spicy when I visited Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, in 2016. Nearly every meal - noodles, street food, wontons in broth etc. had chilli and Sichuan peppercorns included in the sauce, topping or broth. No such thing as not spicy in Chengdu. But they managed to incorporate it in a way that it complemented, or rather, elevated the savoury flavours of the dish. The only time it got me was when we went for hotpot.

Our mala hotpot experience - we were probably the only table that had the mala broth on the inside. All the locals had it in the outer larger section.

I mean…my facial expression says it all, right?

Caption this! What was going through my head?

What’s your most memorable spicy food experience?

Anyway, back to the Mapo tofu! It actually has an interesting back story.