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Mapo Tofu Scramble
Published July 25, 2024
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- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 3tablespoons canola or olive oil
- ½pound ground pork or beef
- ½teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns or freshly ground black pepper
- ¼teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- 1(1-inch) piece ginger, finely chopped or grated
- 3scallions, sliced thinly, whites and light green parts separated from dark green
- 2tablespoons black bean garlic sauce
- 1tablespoon tomato paste
- 1tablespoon soy sauce
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1pound silken tofu, drained, cut into ¾-inch pieces
- 5eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt
- Buttered toast, for serving (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 10- or 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high. When hot, add the pork and use a wooden spoon to mash it up into pieces as small as possible. Cook, stirring frequently, until browned all over, about 3 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-low.
- Step 2
Stir in the peppercorns, red pepper, ginger, white and light green parts of the scallion, black bean sauce, tomato paste, soy sauce, sugar and ¼ cup water. Stir very well to break down tomato paste and black bean sauce, then gently stir in the tofu. Turn off heat, transfer the tofu mixture to a bowl and wipe the skillet clean.
- Step 3
In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. When hot, add the eggs and cook, pushing and folding with a spatula until cooked just a little less than you’d like them done. Turn off heat and push the scrambled eggs to one side of the pan to make room for the tofu mixture.
- Step 4
While eggs and the skillet are still warm, return the tofu mixture to the skillet and gently fold into the scrambled eggs, combining the two, doing your best to keep the tofu from breaking up too much. Transfer to serving plates or a platter, sprinkle with the sliced dark green parts of scallion and serve with the buttered toast on the side, if desired.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
In Chinese cuisine, tofu is not defined so narrowly as a meat substitute as it is in the West, but instead as a standard & versatile protein. So, many popular tofu dishes, like Mapo Tofu, are not vegetarian, but it's easy to make this one veg by way of swaps or the omission of pork altogether. The spicy black bean garlic sauce is probably referring to a popular chinese condiment made of fermented black soy beans. That said, douban Jiang (broad bean sauce) is more traditional in Mapo Tofu.
Food processed mushrooms works instead of pork. Also added spicy bean sauce and Chinese salted black beans. Delish!
i was hoping for vegetarian, too. usually when i see crumbled pork in a recipe i'm able to substitute Beyond italian sausages reasonably successfully.
Solid combo! Lots of protein. Next time I’ll reverse order and do eggs first, though tonight I just did them in another pan while the tofu got hot. Lol to the pedants and whiners out there
Sichuan peppercorns are an essential ingredient in a vast array of Chinese dishes including Mapo Tofu. They provide a spicy, tingling and numbing effect that can not be replicated by black pepper. Sichuan peppercorns are widely available online and at Asian grocery stores.
I make mapo tofu with meat & without. Both are delicious. Looking forward to trying this- both with & without!
First, you actually have to make mapo tofu - this is not an actual recipe for one of my favorite dishes. Second, traditionally the dish uses beef which is unusual for a cooking style that centers on Chengdu. (not that it matters - if cooked properly you no need any meat) Third, my alternative suggestion is something I call Loco Loco Mapo Tofu. - left over mapo tofu over rice topped with a sunny side up egg or two . . . .
I would not freeze this. It would totally change the consistency of the eggs and tofu. Just halve or quarter it. Soft tofu is like custard. Just add a flavor for a delicious snack with the left over or save for another batch.
Added a chopped Roma tomato along with the spices and tomato paste because I had it, and then dropped the water to 1 Tbsp so it wouldn't be too wet. Agree that I found it easier to sacrifice a second pan so I could cook the eggs at the same time. Served over jasmine rice.
Delicious! But kind of turned into a homogenous mush. The tofu is too delicate. I’d try it again but use something firmer and maybe a bit more pork. Didn’t look all that attractive but really fantastic flavor.
Followed the suggestion of putting mushrooms through a food processor to replace the meat. It worked well, but added to the disappointing number of dirty dishes created by this supposedly one-pot meal. It was very good though. Thinking about how to streamline the process: Skip the food processor, just slice and sauté the mushrooms? Skip removing the tofu from the skillet, just slide it to the side? Skip beating the eggs ahead of cooking them? Maybe just cook them over easy? Hmmm.
This is a very nice comfort food recipe. I prefer mapo tofu without pork so used shitake mushrooms, my usual go-to with it. Made it with 1T black bean sauce and 1T douban jiang (aka chili bean sauce). The buttered toast sounds like a sinfully good combo with this, but was a good boy and heated up some frozen brown rice instead.
Looks delicious, but I am pretty dubious about the prep time of 10 minutes. I guess that excludes getting all your ingredients ready. I wish for a bit more honesty in prep and cooking time, not what a professional chef can do with all the ingredients cleaned and ready to go, but what a home cook might realistically expect. (Not just this recipe which I intend to make).
Delicious! I used 1.4lbs ground pork having no other use for it so I ended up tripling the sauce (also used fermented bean paste as suggested by commenters—incredibly flavorful, it came in a tub so I use it every chance I get). I also added a bunch of Dino kale (SO GOOD) to balance the protein. Served over rice not toast. Eggs do absorb a lot of sauce. This is a completely delicious recipe with room for riffing. Would be awesome as veg only. Leftovers with chile crisp=heaven!
Used extra firm tofu and a pound of ground chicken which were both in my fridge. Upped the amount of other ingredients except tofu due to the extra chicken. Used pixian doubanjiang in lieu of the fermented black bean garlic paste, added a little fresh minced garlic. On buttered toast. Was easy and delicious, an unexpected hit. Thanks! Pixian doubanjiang sauce was out of stock at one Asian grocery. Got the last bottle at a huge 99 Ranch Market. Is there a shortage?
Made this last night, and it's a WINNER! I would add water chestnuts next time, and more scallions, probably. Being in a city where Chinese food is sorely lacking, this was really outstanding!
I used ground chicken breast; added extra scallions; and added two handfuls of arugula. The arugula added nutrition and a bit more depth. I’d like to try the Jiang, or broad bean sauce, mentioned below.
First, you actually have to make mapo tofu - this is not an actual recipe for one of my favorite dishes. Second, traditionally the dish uses beef which is unusual for a cooking style that centers on Chengdu. (not that it matters - if cooked properly you no need any meat) Third, my alternative suggestion is something I call Loco Loco Mapo Tofu. - left over mapo tofu over rice topped with a sunny side up egg or two . . . .
I would not freeze this. It would totally change the consistency of the eggs and tofu. Just halve or quarter it. Soft tofu is like custard. Just add a flavor for a delicious snack with the left over or save for another batch.
For the reader that said they would fry the tofu first, not silken tofu. That would not work as it is too delicate.
What is black bean garlic sauce???
https://ca.lkk.com/en/products/black-bean-garlic-sauce I imagine would be easy to find in "Asian" sections of a well stocked grocery store if you're in a decent sized city, or if not than via Amazon or other online vendor
Serve with buttered toast???
Without doubanjiang I can't imagine that you can get the true flavor.
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