Gluten-Free Mapo Tofu
"Traditional Chinese comfort food Mapo Tofu made easy. This gluten-free dish is made with 5-min home-made hot chili oil and pepper solids and simmered in beef broth or a hearty home-made bone broth. It’s healthy and rich in flavor. Pair it with rice to complete your legit 30-min Chinese meal. To make a better-than-Chinese -takeout Mapo Tofu at home, you don’t have to have fermented black beans and doubanjiang, which are probably only available in an Asian market or online. And those two ingredients usually contain gluten. My mom’s Mapo Tofu is totally gluten free!"
Notes Boiling tofu in salted water will make the tofu strong and not easy to break.
2. Browning meat over medium heat allows the meat to be broken into smaller pieces, which is preferred in this dish. If you use high heat, meat will easily turn into bigger chunks.
3. If you don't have Sichuan numbing pepper, you can still make this recipe with ground black pepper. But the result is going to be less ideal.
4. For finely ground Sichuan numbing pepper, toast the peppercorns over medium heat until fragrant, then process them in a food processor.
Serves2 People
Preparation Time10 min
Cooking Time20 min
Ingredients
- 1 (16-ounce) block soft tofu
- 4 ounces ground beef or ground pork
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons dried Sherry
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth (I used homemade beef bone broth)
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Cut tofu into half-inch cubes.
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In a medium saucepan, bring a large amount of salted water to a boil and gently place the tofu into the boiling water. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Drain.
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Combine ground beef or pork, sesame oil, dried Sherry, 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Mix well.
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In a large wok or sauté pan, heat up 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat for about 1 minute. Brown the seasoned meat in oil, breaking it into small pieces with your spatula, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer the meat to the same bowl that you use to season the meat and set aside.
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Add another 2 tablespoons canola oil in the same wok. Keep the medium heat. Add ginger and garlic, cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
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Pour broth into the wok. Turn the heat up to high and bring the broth to a boil.