Ma Po Tofu

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground pork or lamb or chicken or even beef

Season meat with Salt & Pepper (white pepper if you have it), fennel seeds, 1 star anise seed... or chinese 5 spice even

1 pack silken tofu, cut into ~1" cubes (32 pieces)

1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp minced ginger

1 Tbsp peanut oil

Options: sliced mushrooms, w/ shaoxing deglaze - dried chilis

Sauce:

1 Tbsp fermented black beans, mashed

1-2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp sambal

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/2 tsp sugar

(most all recipes call for 2 tbsp chili bean paste- feel free)

Optionals- splash of oyster sauce, tsp of mirin, Tbsp of miso

Thickener:

2 tsp cold water

1tsp cornstarch

Garnish:

2-3 green onion stalks, sliced (white parts get added w/ garlic/ginger)

1 tsp ground schezuan peppercorns

squirt of garlic chili oil

Cook Tofu first. Boil some water and add tofu cubes, cook for 2 minutes so hot and lets sit.

Drain just before adding to main part of dish.

(you could even just add the cubes to the pot, fill with cold water to cover and bring to a boil while cooking the rest if your timing is good)

Heat wok to medium high and add seasoned ground meat. I actually don't even use oil as the meat is fatty enough to cook without sticking (drain fat if too much cooks off).

Cook 3-4 minutes, then add mushrooms if using, deglazing with 1 Tbsp of shaoxing for 30 seconds.

Push meat to back half of wok and add some oil to the front, allow a few seconds to heat before adding garlic/ginger/white parts of green onion. 30 seconds, then mix all and pour in sauce and bring to a boil.

Add cornstarch slurry thickener a little at a time, stirring constantly, and bring barely back to a boil, add tofu and gently stir while turning off heat.

Dump into a serving dish and top with garnish of ground schezuan and sliced green onions or even garlic chili oil squirt.

Serve with white rice.

Cut block of tofu into sections of 4x4, after having already cut in half heightwise

All ingredients are prepped

After cooking ground meat, add garlic/ginger/onion, then add sauce

Add cornstarch slurry to thicken before finally adding tofu

Stir gently to bring it all together

Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" sq "cubes"
1/2 yellow or sweet vidalia onion, diced
6-8 button mushrooms, sliced or quartered
1 Tbs ginger, finely chopped
1 Tbs garlic, finely chopped
2-3 Tbs peanut oil or garlic chili oil

Chicken marinade:
Egg white from 1 egg
1-2 Tbls DARK soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch

Basic Chinese brown sauce:
2 Tbs light soy sauce
2 Tbs shaoxing cooking wine
2 Tbs water
1 Tbs sambal ooleck
1 Tbs hoison
1 Tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 Tbs cornstarch, heaping, stirred in until dissolved


Dice all veggies (Optional- red or green sweet peppers, green onions, peanuts, or different mushroom types) and garlic and ginger. Dice chicken into chunks. Optional- season chicken with Chinese 5 spice. Create marinade by pouring dark soy sauce into bowl, then add egg white.

Add teaspoon of cornstarch to a bag, add chunks of chicken to bag and shake, then add to marinade and stir so all pieces are coated. Optional- add a single star anise seed to cook with chicken

Add all ingredients for Chinese brown sauce in a pyrex measuring cup or bowl, so all ingredients are ready to go.

Heat wok to medium high to very high. Add peanut oil. Add dried chilis for 30-45 seconds and remove with slotted spoon, or just use garlic chili oil which is already spicy. Keep chilis in the serving bowl. Add marinated chicken to oil (I commonly strain the chicken first to remove excess egg white).

Let chicken sit for 30-45 seconds. Then flip the pieces, and you'll see they've developed a dark golden brown crust. Depending on heat and size of chicken chunks, cook for 5-6 total minutes, jostling chunks every 30 seconds, then remove with slotted spoon. Add to serving bowl with chilis.

Add onion to oil and toss for a minute, then add mushrooms and cook for 2 more minutes. Add sweet peppers for last minute if using. Optional- deglaze with 1 Tbs of shaoxing for final 30 seconds. Remove veggies to serving bowl, with chicken and chilis.

Add ginger and garlic to remaining oil, sautee for 45 seconds, then add chinese brown sauce mixture (stir before adding so cornstarch incorporates correctly). Allow 20-30 seconds for sauce to thicken then add all ingredients from serving bowl and turn down/off heat and stir so all ingredients get sauced up. Pour back into serving bowl and serve with white rice.

Add Dark Soy Sauce to bowl 

 

Prep all ingredients, then add chicken to egg white marinade for at least 15 minutes

Use the same bag that the veggies came in to toss chicken chunks to coat in cornstarch before adding to marinade

Once all the ingredients are ready to go, heat up the wok and fry chicken in batches if necessary to ensure they aren't overcrowded (if doubling recipe, for instance)

Use more chilis or crack them in half to release the seeds to increase the heat. And peanuts at the end of veggie process if you like that. 

[pic of finished dish coming soon]

Also, to make it really much more authentic, add schezuan peppercorns to wok while heating to roast them, then grind them with pestle or grinder and sprinkle on top of finished dish.