I actually got an e-mail request for this dish, and finally here it is!

This is a famous Sichuan dish, commonly named “mapoh tofu” (麻婆豆腐) is a spicy dish that usually contains tofu and grounded meat (beef or pork). It’s so popular, it has it’s own Wikipedia page! I first learned about this dish when I was a kid. While watching some Chinese cartoons, one of the shows was about a young cook. He would master certain dishes, and one of them being Mapoh Tofu!

As you can see from the Wikipedia article, there are many variations with this dish, which is what makes it great. But the common ground are the chili’s, it’s what makes this dish tasty! However, I’m not that big of a fan of chili’s, so they were not used. The coriander (though not needed), definitely adds extra flavor!

I actually have an earlier post (thanks Weeknite Meals), called Spicy Tofu! It’s actually quite similar.

• around 200 g of ground pork (or substitute with any grounded meat product)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• tofu to your liking (I bought a small tub and used 3 chunks, about 400 g)
• Hot sauce (Sriracha) to taste, but stick to 1 teaspoon for now (we can’t reverse this if it’s too spicy!)
• salt and sugar
• 1 teaspoon of chicken broth powder mix
• 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of corn starch
• handful of green onion and coriander chopped (for garnish)
• 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil

• Take the tofu, and cut into small bit-sized cubes, perhaps 1/2-inch cubes. Place them on a plate to allow any excess water to be drained. Let’s aim to have them as dry as possible.
• No marinade necessary for the ground pork, however feel free to mix in soy sauce and sugar if need be.
• Place the corn starch in a small sauce bowl, and mix with 2 teaspoons of water. Set aside for later use, as we will be adding this mixture near the end to thicken the sauce.

1. In a preheated wok (or pan), heat the cooking oil, then add the garlic. Once the garlic starts to turn a little brown, add the ground pork and saute.
2. When it is all cooked, I like to tilt the wok (or pan) on an angle, and remove the excess oil. Completely your choice! Usually I find these ground meat to contain a lot of excess oil. If you want to do this, I suggest turning off the heat first.
3. Add the following: Hot sauce (Sriracha), 1/2 cup of water, salt to taste (I put 1/2 teaspoon), chicken broth powder mix, 2 teaspoons of sugar, and light soy sauce. Saute.
4. Add the tofu into the wok (or pan), and no need to saute, allow the tofu to soak in the sauce and come to a boil. You should flip them a couple of times, but they can break into smaller pieces. Allow a few minutes to cook.
5. While the sauce is boiling, add in the corn starch mixture that was prepared earlier on to thicken the sauce.
6. Garnish by sprinkling the coriander and green onions!

I apologize for the strange title. The truth is that I have no idea what the name of this vegetable is! I actually spent hours researching the English name of this vegetable, but no luck. Because of this, I will have to call it “Yummy” for now, since… it was pretty yummy!

In Cantonese (水瓜), the literal translation is: “water melon”. But of course we know there must be some other name! Here are some of the names I came across: smooth luffa, sponge gourd, vegetable sponge, silk squash, and bottle gourd. And no, it’s not “fuzzy squash” or “bitter melon”, even though they do have similarities in appearance.

This vegetable is quite soft when cooked, kind of like a zucchini. This recipe does not take long to complete at all. From start to finish, it should not take you more than 20 minutes (5-10 minutes of preprarion, with 10 minutes of cooking). Here are sample photos of what it looks like (I forgot to take a photo of it, so here are others I found on other Chinese websites):





Readers, if any of you have any clue/idea as to what this is called, please enlighten me :)

• 1 Yummy (mine was about 700 g)
• 2 eggs
• 150 g of ground pork
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of chicken broth powder
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil

• Skin the Yummy, and slice into bite-sized pieces, about 2 inches in length. Here is how I sliced it: cut into 1/2-inch thick circles, then stack 3 or 4 of them on top of each other. Next cut into 3-4 pieces. Be careful as it can be a bit slippery, and your knife could slide.
• No marinade necessary for the ground pork.

1. In a preheated wok (or pan), heat the cooking oil, then add the garlic. Once the garlic starts to turn a little brown, add the ground pork and saute.
2. Once the pork has been cooked, add the Yummy into the wok (or pan). Follow this up by adding the following: 3/4 cup of water, sugar, chicken broth powder, and sugar. Stir-fry.
3. Cover the wok (or pan) with a lid, as we now wait for the Yummy to be fully cooked. This could take 5 minutes.
   
   
   
   
4. Once the Yummy has been cooked, crack two eggs and place them into the wok (or pan). If you like having “chunks” of eggs, then wait and let the egg sit before stirring. Or you can stir immediately to have a more uniform (and broken up) egg mixture. Stir for a few seconds, and serve immediately.

Just like ginger, I only recently started to fully enjoy bitter melon (I’m really missing out!). I’m not sure if it’s an acquired taste, but it really does have a bitterness to it, which I’m sure is a strong deterrent for most people. They are green and can come fairly large:



I learned this recipe from my mother, and we made this over the weekend. She really likes to have the bitter melon in her soups, so this time I got my notepad ready, and took notes! This soup should be enough to serve 3 or 4 people.

I’m not sure if you can find this vegetable at your local grocery store, it may be because I never tried looking. We normally pick up a batch from the Asian supermarkets.

This recipe takes about 1.5 hours total, but most of it is just waiting around. A majority of the work is preparation.

• 4 bitter melons
• 1 pound of ground pork
• a handful of vermicelli (optional for the stuffing)
• a handful of dried baby shrimp (optional for the stuffing)
• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
• pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 can of chicken broth (the can I used was 412 ml)

• If you have dried baby shrimp, place them in a bowl of cold water for about 30 minutes (until it softens).
• Marinade the ground pork with the soy sauce, pepper, and sesame oil. Once the shrimp is all dried, chop them into tiny pieces, and then mix it with the ground pork. Let it sit for about 30 minutes.
  
  Here is a photo of the dried baby shrimp all chopped:
  
  
  
  
• If you have vermicelli, place then in a bowl of cold water, just like we did for the dried baby shrimp. It should take about 10 minutes for it to soften.
• Take the bitter melon, and cut into either halves or thirds (depending on how long they are). Grab a spoon, and extract the seeds.

1. When the vermicelli is soft, cut into one inch lengths, and thoroughly mix it with the marinaded ground pork. It does take a few minutes of mixing to get a nice homogeneous mixture.
   
   Here is a photo of what the marinade looks like:
   
   
   
   
2. Next, using a spoon, stuff the ground pork mixture into the hollow bitter melons. Try to stuff as much as you can! If you have leftovers, don’t worry, we will make use of them later.
   
   Here is a photo of the stuffed bitter melons:
   
   
   
   
3. Pour the chicken broth into a pot. Fill up the empty can that contained the chicken broth with water, and pour it into the pot as well. Repeat two more times so we have a 3:1 ratio of water to chicken broth. Adjust the amounts to your liking. Place on high heat.
4. Once it has come to a boil, place the bitter melons into the pot. If you had leftover ground pork, you can make little balls and place them into the pot as well! Got to make use of those leftovers! Start your timer, as this will be about a 25 minute wait.
5. There is no need to stir the pot, or poke at the melons. You can just let it sit. When the soup has come to a boil, I like to turn the heat down to medium and let it cook slowly.
6. Perform a taste test around the 15 minute mark. The only thing you may want to add is a pinch of salt to taste.
7. Once the 25 minutes are over, turn the heat off, and it’s ready to be served!

This is Part 2 of my adventures of trying out stir-fry recipes from other people’s blogs. This one is called Spicy Tofu. I grabbed this recipe from another amazing blog: Weeknite Meals. This blog is beautifully designed, and has great home-made recipes. Check it out if you have time! I spent a lot of time browsing all her recipes :)

As for the dish itself, it was amazing! I used corn starch (instead of tapioca starch), which I don’t do too often when marinading meat in a stir-fry, and it turned out very soft and delicious! I strongly recommend going to an Asian supermarket to purchase the ground pork, as you can tell the butcher the exact quantity of the ground meat you need (in this case, 1/4 pound).

I should note that I did make one small adjustment, and that was using only one tablespoon of soy sauce in total (as opposed to four as you will see). Keep in mind that you will also be using some black bean paste, which is also salty. So the amount of condiments should always be “as needed”, and do a taste-test near the end to check if more or something is needed.

• 1.5 tablespoons of tapioca starch (can substitute cornstarch)
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1/4 pound (115 grams) of ground pork
• 1 pound regular tofu (medium firmness)
• 1 leek or 3 green onions cut into short lengths
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon Chinese salted black beans (fermented black beans, also called Chinese black beans), or to taste
• 1 tablespoon of chili bean paste, or to taste
• 3 tablespoons of stock (chicken broth)
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• freshly ground Szechuan pepper
• 2–3 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, as needed

• Marinade the ground pork with the tapioca starch (or corn starch) and 2 tablespoons (or to taste) of soy sauce. Let it sit for 20 minutes.
• Cut the tofu (bean curd) into 1/2 inch (1 cm) square cubes, and blanch (drop into boiling water) for 2–3 minutes. Remove from boiling water and drain.

1. Heat wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add the marinated pork. Stir-fry the pork until the color darkens. Add salt and stir.
2. Add the salted black beans. Mash the beans with a cooking ladle until they blend in well with the meat. Add the chili paste, then the stock, bean curd, and leek or green onions.
3. Turn down the heat. Cook for 3–4 minutes.
4. While cooking, take a small bowl and mix 1-2 teaspoons of cornstarch, with 1-2 teaspoons of water. While the sauce in the wok has come to a boil, add the mixture and stir gently. This will thicken the sauce. Serve with freshly ground Szechuan pepper.

I get to finally add my first tofu recipe! This is a very tasty dish filled with lots of flavor, as you will see from the abundance of items in the Ingredients section. The main sauce will be Black Bean Garlic Sauce, which can be bought from your local Chinese grocery store.



This sauce is great to keep on the side, as it’s great for other wonderful stir-fry and steamed dishes (stay tuned for more!)

As for the tofu, we usually buy the tofu from a Chinese grocery store that is in a plastic tub. But I was in a rush this afternoon, and instead picked up tofu from my local grocery store by “Mandarin Soyfoods”:



As you can see, the package is quite thick, and contains 450 g! Definitely enough for this dish. I’m planning on doing a 36-sec video on this dish, so keep an eye out for that :)

Edit: The video has been uploaded —> http://tumblr.com/x1tb3uihx

• 450 g of tofu
• 150 g of ground pork
• 2 chopped garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon ginger cut into matchsticks
• 3 tablespoons chopped scallions
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 teaspoon chicken broth mix
• 2 teaspoons of cooking oil
• 2 and a half teaspoons of corn starch
• 1 tablespoon of black bean garlic sauce
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 1/3 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

• We are going to start off by marinading the ground pork with the salt, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 1/3 teaspoon chicken broth mix, garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cooking oil, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, 2 teaspoon corn starch and 1 tablespoon of the chopped scallions. Mix well to have it nice and uniform.

1. In a small pot, boil the tofu for about 5 minutes (or until it floats). Drain the tofu and let it cool for about 15 minutes. Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes.
2. In a small sauce pan, heat the rest of the cooking oil, then add the garlic and ginger. Next, add the black bean garlic sauce, along with the rest of the sugar, chicken broth mix, and corn starch into the pan. Mix well and set aside.
3. Spread the tofu pieces evenly on a fairly wide plate (or bowl). This plate will be placed in a steamer, so choose an appropriate sized plate. Add the rest of the soy sauce over the tofu. Next, spread the sauce mixture prepared from Step #2 over the tofu. Then take the ground pork meat mixture, make mini meat balls and place them on top of the tofu.
   
   The photo below is a sample of what the plate looks like just before steaming:
   
   
4. Prepare the food steamer. I should note that I use a stove top steamer that has water filled at the bottom, so the cooking time may vary. Once the water comes to a boil, place it in the steamer for approximately 15-20 minutes (or until the meat is cooked).
5. Finish off by garnishing with green scallions.

This has always been one of my favorite dishes since I was a child (probably because it was a little sweet!), and hopefully can be a favorite of yours as well.

One of the main ingredients of this dish is preserved mustard. I typically buy a pack from my local Chinese grocery store. The one I use is dark in color, and here is a photo of what the bag looks like:





As you can see from the photo, they are quite bunched up, so you’ll have to pry them out. If you look at the package, and underneath the Chinese title, it says “Preserved Mustard” in English. I’m holding a tiny piece, but you’ll need much more, perhaps 2 batches. It is very sandy, so you will need to rinse them before finely chopping.

• 450 g of ground pork
• 2 batches (about 125 g) of the preserved mustard from the package
• 5 teaspoons of sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons of light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of corn starch

• Rinse the preserved mustard with cold water. You might want to repeat a few more tunes to remove the residue. Dry them off (you can squeeze it like a wet cloth) and chop finely into tiny pieces. The stem is not needed, and can be thrown out.
• Take the ground pork into a separate bowl, add the light soy sauce and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Mix uniformly.
• Bring the chopped preserved mustard into bowl of ground pork and add the rest of the sugar in it, along with the corn starch. Mix uniformly.
• Place the mixture into a fairly wide bowl, and spread evenly. The bowl will be placed in a steamer, so choose an appropriate sized bowl.

1. For the food steamer, I use a stove top steamer that has water filled at the bottom, so the cooking time may vary. Once the water comes to a boil, place the bowl into the steamer.
2. Take a peek around the 16-18 minute mark, and poke the center. If ready, turn the steamer down and let it sit for another couple of minutes before serving.