What’s up everyone?
Today we are going to learn how to make
Mapo Tofu with Chicken
My dad’s variation on one of Sichuan’s most famous dishes.
Sichuan food is one of the eight major Chinese cuisines
Recognized internationally for its bold flavors and intense spices.
Nowadays, there are many, many variations of Mapo Tofu
But the original dish dates back to 1862
At a small family restaurant, known as
The Chen Xingsheng Eating House
The word "màh pòh" refers to Mrs. Chen
A Grandma with bumpy, cratered skin.
Her dish became so popular
That her family later changed their restaurant's name
To Chen Mapo Tofu Restaurant
Which is still open to this day.
Teaching us will be my dad,
who has been cooking Chinese food for over 50 years.
Also, stay tuned at the end
To eat with us and learn more about the dish
Check out our blog post for a printable
Adjustable list of ingredients, as well as
Step-by-step videos and instructions on
How to make this dish
Hope you guys enjoy!
Now we begin making our Mapo Tofu
Here we have about 3-4 oz of chicken
First, we'll cut the chicken
Watch me
Make diagonal cuts like this
It's really easy!
Next, gather the chicken together and mince it with your knife
Flip the chicken over, and repeat
Great, we're done cutting the chicken
For this next step,
We'll be creating a chicken marinade using
1 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, and 2 tbsp water
In a bowl, mix together the ingredients
and chicken with your hands
using a bit of strength
until the marinade is fully absorbed.
We can let this sit for about 5 minutes
As we move onto the next steps
Finished! Now we'll cut the tofu.
You can use any type of tofu that you like.
Hard is fine, soft is fine.
This tofu is soft.
First, cut the tofu through the middle into two halves.
Next, cut it in half length-wise
and make cuts on both sides again.
Just like this. Convenient, right?
Now,
One
Two
Three
Four
See? It's that simple!
It's really easy!
Great. The tofu is ready.
Next, we'll mince 1-2 cloves of garlic
Fresh chilies, and green onion
My dad tends to keep his spiciness levels pretty mild,
So he's only using 1 to 2 small chilies for this dish.
If you love spicy food,
Feel free to go crazy!
If you don't have fresh chilies,
You can also buy chili sauces from Asian markets or on Amazon
I've included a link in the description,
where you can buy my dad’s favorite sauces
Great! We're done chopping everything.
Let's make a cornstarch mix using 2 tbsp water, 1 tbsp cornstarch
(Mix until there are no clumps of cornstarch left)
After we've prepared all of our ingredients
We turn our stove to its highest setting.
Once our wok has heated up,
We add 1 to 2 tbsp corn oil, and our fresh chilies and garlic
Stir the chilies and garlic around in the oil
For about 20 to 30 seconds
As you start to smell the aromas
Do you smell that?
Yea
Yeah!
Great!
Now, we’ll add our chicken meat to the wok
Cook the chicken for about 20-30 seconds, until you smell the aromas
As you cook the chicken, watch the color change
That's when you know it's cooked enough
Smell that? Doesn't it smell good?
Great!
Next, we'll be adding 1 tbsp of bean sauce.
Stir it around with the chicken for about 1 minute to mix in the flavor.
You can usually find bean sauce at an Asian grocery store
or on Amazon. I’ve included a link in the description below.
Next, we'll add
1 cup water, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
The dark soy sauce gives the dish a more dark and rich color.
If you don't have dark soy sauce specifically, normal soy sauce is fine.
Now, we'll add our tofu to the wok
Then, we cover the wok with our lid
We let it sit for about 3 minutes
Until the tofu is boiling
Was this popular at the restaurant?
Yes! A lot of people ordered it.
We cook this with tofu, but you don’t have to use chicken.
Sometimes I use shrimp.
Shrimp?
Yes you can definitely use shrimp!
You can use whatever you like!
My philosophy is to use whatever you like!
If you like shrimp, that works!
Chicken works,
Pork works,
Beef works too!
Okay!
You can hear the sound of the tofu bubbling and boiling
Now we'll add the cornstarch mix
If you don't add it, it'll just be watery
Right?
Watch this
Inherently, the tofu has no taste
It absorbs and thickens
Trapping all of the flavors
Then the tofu will taste good.
You understand?
See? Can you see that?
It's a lot thicker
This part is important - we’ll add sesame oil
Sesame oil - you don't need too much
1-2 tsp is just fine.
Okay
It's ready!
Mmmmm, smells good!
Alright, the mapo tofu is done!
Now let's plate it.
Watch.
It's best not to use a spatula
Just pour the tofu into the plate
This helps prevent the tofu from breaking apart
Right?
Look how beautiful the meat looks
Now we'll add our green onion
Yeah!
Now we're done!
Let's bring it to the table!
Okay! Let's eat!
Cheers!
Cheers everyone!
Hopefully everybody likes our dish!
Today I need to eat some more
Because it tastes so good!
Bring your plate closer! This is hard to wash!
If you spill on here, it's hard to wash.
Does it taste good?
Of course it tastes good!
So good!
It's very soft
Very tasty
The spicy taste is very gentle.
Very good for us.
Also we love to add some rice
Because rice has a plain taste
Mixed up with the mapo tofu
It is great!
Mmm!
Very good, right?
No I'm okay, you eat.
You eat.
I've had enough.
It's fine, it's fine.
You get your own
Don't spill on the bamboo
It's hard to wash, son.
You eat, you eat, son.
How come the dishes in Sichuan province are usually spicy?
They prefer spicy foods.
My friend from Sichuan,
The whole pan is colored red
The entire dish is red!
Wow!
In Guangdong, the dishes aren’t as spicy?
Yes, in Guangdong, the dishes are more mild in taste.
Culturally, in Guangdong, our food tends to be less salty and heavy in taste.
In Guangdong, it's a hot state.
Not too cold.
We're in the south.
Sichuan, and places like Beijing, are more north.
All those states are colder
Cold weather makes it easier to eat hot, spicy foods
Do you want more?
Yes
You’ll keep eating?
Alright, keep eating if you like it!
Do you have any more rice for him?
Make sure you drink more water.
You think you’ll be able to cook this now?
Yeah
The most important thing is the last step, you understand son?
If you don't add the cornstarch at the end
The tofu will have no taste
Only when it absorbs these flavors, the tofu will taste good.
Ooooh, I just ate a pepper
Did you eat this as kids?
We didn't have much to eat as kids
As kids in China, we didn't really have much to eat.
Very little to eat.
We always ate rice, vegetables
The government gave us a little coupon to buy meat
Maybe.. one pound a month
One pound a month of meat?!
My entire body is hot now
Yeah me too
I'm sweating.
See this?
This one can really take the spiciness away.
Watermelon?
Yeah
You can use your fork
Here, eat.
Do you want me to cut half a watermelon for you to take home?
Right there
Uhhhh, it's okay.
If you don't want it, it's fine.
You should eat more now.
Where did you buy these chilies?
We grew these!
Really?
Just outside in our backyard.
You want to take a picture?
It’s my dad's garden!
These are dried now.
In the future, there will be new sprouts
That are even prettier.
My nose is sweating.
I think Kat (daughter-in-law) really likes spicy food
One time I saw her eat spicy food
She took a giant spoonful of spicy sauce. It terrified me!
I ate this tiny amount, she had a giant spoonful!
It's good right, son?
It's good, huh?
Hello everyone!
Today we tried our dish, and we really like it!
I believe all of our friends watching this video
you will like this dish
You can try it once
Twice,
Three times
Each time, you will improve!
After all of those tries
I believe everybody will be successful
To make your favorite Mapo Tofu!
So hopefully everybody likes it
And also, hopefully all of our friends watching this video