There’s a good chance you’ve seen this dish on the menu at stateside Chinese restaurants. Its fairly common but the different interpretations I’ve had at various restaurants can range from sticky sauce with gooey tofu to this-is-so-spicy-I-can’t-taste-anything.  When I was living in China this was a dish that I frequently ate. It is originally from the Szechuan region in the south of China, but it had moved up to Beijing by the time I was there, probably with all the migrant workers that come to the capital from all over China.  The traditional way to eat this, as far as I can tell (I spent very little time in Szechuan) is to use silken tofu and a thick but not sticky sauce, and it should be spicy but not spicy enough to overpower the other flavors in the dish (garlic, ginger, onion).  There is pork in this dish but it can easily be eliminated to be vegetarian, and tastes great both ways.

This recipe came from the book, “Chinese Cuisine” by Huang SuHuei, which is a classic of Chinese cooking, and has the recipes in Chinese and English, which is fun.

There are a couple of specialized ingredients in this dish that probably aren’t available at your local Safeway, but shouldn’t be hard to find at a good Asian market.  The hot bean paste is made from soybeans with added spices and oil, and if you can’t find a Chinese version, there are a lot of Korean and other pan-Asian products out there you could try substituting. This bean paste is the flavor base of the dish though, so I recommend giving a good search before you try to substitute.  The other one is Szechuan peppercorn powder.  This is basically just ground pepper, but it is not a peppercorn that is used in Western cooking, from what I can tell. The flavor is very different and adds a lot to the dish.

Step 1:

Cut one package of silken tofu into 1/2 inch cubes. (I used extra firm tofu, but would definitely use silken the next time)

Step 2:

Heat the wok (I used a large skillet and it worked well) over high heat and add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.  Stir fry: 1 tablespoon chopped green onion, 1 teaspoon chopped garlic and 1 teaspoon chopped ginger until softened. At this point the kitchen should be full of amazing flavors! Add 1 tablespoon of Chinese hot bean paste and 2 ounces of ground pork, optional if you want to make the dish vegetarian (I used a little more than that, mainly because I didn’t want to get out my scale and measure 2 ounces!) and stir to mix it in thoroughly.

Step 3:

Add 1 tablespoon white cooking wine (any variety will be fine), 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Mix, and then add the cubed tofu. Bring this to a boil and cook for 3-5 minutes.  At this point the tofu will probably be losing some of its cubed shape as it cooks. If it is still solid cubes, like in the picture below, smash the pieces with the back of your spoon to break them up a little. Then if the sauce is still thin, mix 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of corn starch with a tablespoon of water and add that to the sauce.  Cook until it is the consistency of cream. Mix in 1/4 teaspoon of Szechuan peppercorn powder on the dish.  Then taste for spice and if you want it spicier, add more hot bean paste.

Step 4:

Sprinkle some sliced green onion over the top of the tofu and serve over rice. This is great accompanied by a nice cold beer! Enjoy!

~Team Denver