Uwajiwhat: Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Bean

It has to be one of the most intimidating aisles of the Asian market. You know: the one that’s chili everything—sauces, pastes, oils, etc. Search slowly but carefully, as it’s here that you’ll find a jar of the chili paste that we love for our ma po dou fu (aka ma-po tofu).

Ma po dou fu is, in addition to green curry, our favorite emergency food. It’s simple to make, easy on the teeth after dental work, spicy and warming, and always tasty. Ma refers to pockmarks left on the face after small pox, while po means “old woman.” Legend has it that a pockmarked old woman in Chengdu created the dish for farmers and other laborers who stopped by and even stayed at her home (when the inns were full) on their way to the city’s markets.

There are endless imitations of this dish, many of them westernized and unworthy of consideration. We like to start with Fuchsia Dunlop’s version (her Sichuan cookbook is fabulous) and make some changes: substitute pork for beef and green onions for leeks, use far less oil, and omit the sugar, salt and soy sauce. And then we suss out the spice level.

The key to cooking ma po dou fu is a balance of ma (numbing) and la (spicy). Ma, which makes the lips and tongue tingle, comes from Sichuan peppercorns (actually a fruit, which we’ll discuss another time). Chili provides the la. For that, after endless experiments using half of the chili aisle, we found our favorite: “Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Bean” (look for the green label with a red, two-humped camel). We use 4-5 overflowing tablespoons and toss in some ground chili for good measure (note: we like our spice level at 11 on a scale of 1 to 10); the resulting numbing heat takes us to ma-la shangri-la.

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By Jay in Food on June 8, 2007 11:30 AM

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Jay

Okay, finally, here's a "recipe" (a very modified version of Dunlop's) - though my measurements aren't always exact.

MA PO DOU FU

2-3 tablespoons peanut oil

4 oz ground pork

1-2 inches ginger, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 or more tablespoons chili paste with fermented soy bean

2-3 teaspoons red chili peppers, ground

1 cup chicken stock

1 block of firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes

4 tablespoons tapioca starch mixed with 6 tablespoons water

3-4 green onions, cut diagonally into thin slices

1 or more teaspoons ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns

sesame oil

1. Heat wok, add peanut oil until almost smoking, then add pork and stir-fry over high heat until just turning brown.

2. Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry another minute or so.

3. Turn heat to medium, then add chili paste and stir-fry about 30 seconds until integrated. Add ground chilis and stir-fry another 30 seconds.

4. Pour in the stock, stir well, then add the tofu. Mix gently to avoid breaking tofu. Simmer for up to five minutes, until tofu absorbs the flavor of the sauce.

5. Add starch mixture, using only as much as needed to reach desired sauce thickness. Add green onions and mix well. (If you want your green onions more cooked, add before the starch.) Pour in Sichuan peppercorns and sprinkle with sesame oil. Serve over rice.