Iron Chef Chinese - Chef Chen's Mapo Tofu

Hello Nona,

I often make Mapo Tofu Chinese style and have posted within my "recipes" at Zaar/Food.com my version of this dish. However, I learned a few things by making your recipe; like pre-cooking the tofu in salt water, so it will not break apart easily. I also have to say that I did not follow this recipe exactly (sorry to say, but it has to be a 5 star one) and used ingredients which I already had on hand. I used ground chicken, Sichuan Spicy Noodle Sauce (fermented soybeans, chili), chili paste with garlic, added some garlic cloves, spring scallions, fermented black beans (more then the recipe called for)...and Harveys Bristol Cream. The spicy flavors and taste was excellent and surely was a 5 star meal ! Finally, if you are looking for a Mapo Tofu which is a nice combination of Japanese-Chinese flavors, make sure you follow the ingredients listed... for a great recipe!
P.S. I liked this recipe so much that I made it again the next day and also added some shrimps to the dish!

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Haven't had a chance to try this one yet, but I'm tucking it away for later. The ingredients are authentic, and the picture looks just like mapo doufu ought to look. I'm sure this one is going to be a keeper.

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I too think a great deal of Chef Chen and did of his father as well. I am under the weather with a sinus infection and always go for this or Thai when I am ill. This is a fiercely fiery dish but addictive and always just what the doctor ordered! I love this recipe and I swear I recover more quickly. Thanks for posting; nice to see this here!!

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Wish I could give this 10 stars - the flavor is incredible! I knew it would be since I like anything with fermented black beans, but it's extra good combined with the garlic chives, chilis and two bean sauces. The spicy flavor, combined with the small amount of meat, flavors the tofu perfectly and will convert people who aren't huge tofu fans to love it. I followed the recipe exactly except substituting peanut oil for the vegetable oil. I was excited to learn the technique of cooking the tofu in water first, which worked great! Our only wish was that we had more sauce. To serve six people with rice, I'd try doubling the sauce ingredients and also reducing the final cooking time to 2-3 minutes. This dish is very special as we used garlic chives planted and grown by my next door neighbor Peter who passed away on June 29. He was the executive chef of the Buena Vista Hotel and always the most generous person, giving us delicious food and sharing herbs from his garden. He was an extraordinary person and this is an extraordinary dish - do try it!

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This is very good! I subbed a red pepper and a can of water chestnuts for the meat to make this vegetarian. I also used half the oil, less chili, and used more brown bean sauce in lieu of the black beans, as I don't care for them. It had more sauce than the last ma po tofu dish I made, so I liked that. I used a final simmering time of 2 minutes, and the sauce was generous, but the two of us ate almost all of this with brown rice, so feeding 6 might be if you are making this along with other dishes. The flavor of the brown bean in this sauce make this a yummy dish!

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