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Mapo Tofu

Mapo Tofu

Mapo doufu, Mapo tofu (Chinese: 麻婆豆腐; pinyin: Mápó dòufu) is a popular Chinese dish from the Szechuan (Sichuan) province. It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) and minced meat, usually beef, in a spicy bean-based sauce. Variations using pork or with other ingredients such as water chestnuts, onions or wood ear fungus are not considered authentic recreations of the Sichuan classic. The name means "Pocked-Face Lady's Tofu," and is said to come from a (possibly fictional) food vendor by the name of Ma, who made and sold the dish. Another possible explanation stems from an alternate definition of 麻, meaning "numb": the Szechuan peppercorns used in the dish can slightly numb the diner's mouth.

True Mapo doufu is powerfully spicy with both conventional "heat" spiciness and the characteristic "mala" (numbing spiciness) flavor of Sichuan (Szechuan) cuisine. The authentic form of the dish is increasingly easier to find outside China today, but usually in Szechuanese restaurants that do not adapt the dish for non-Sichuanese (non-Szechuanese) tastes.

Often the dish is adulterated, with its spiciness severely toned down to widen its appeal. This happens even in Chinese restaurants, commonly those not specialising in Sichuan (Szechuan) cuisine. In American Chinese cuisine the dish is often made without meat to appeal to vegetarians, and with very little spice.

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Ma stands for "mazi" (Pinyin: mázi Traditional Chinese 麻子,) which means a person disfigured by pockmarks. Po (Chinese 婆) translates as "old woman". Hence, Ma Po is an old woman whose face was pockmarked. Legend says that the pock-marked old woman (má pó) was a widow who lived in the Chinese city of Chengdu. Due to her condition, her home was placed on the outskirts of the city. By coincidence, it was near a road where traders often passed. Although the rich merchants could afford to stay within the numerous inns of the prosperous city while waiting for their goods to sell, poor farmers would stay in cheaper inns scattered along the sides of roads on the outskirts of the ancient city.

It is said that the first people who tasted the old woman's cooking were a farmer and his son who arrived late to the city during a terrible rainstorm. They were forced to find shelter in the old woman's home having found that all of the inns were full.

Pleased with the company, the old woman prepared them a meal from her paltry larder, including the dish now know as Ma Po Dou fu. The dish was so delicious that soon each time the father and son passed the old woman's home, they would stay for a meal. In this way, the old woman's renown spread as others joined the father and son in visiting and staying at her home. These visitors would often bring the ingredients for her dish so as not to burden her larder.

As time passed, the dish evolved. However, the staple ingredients have always been: an ounce of ground beef, a few ounces of tofu, and an ample amount of ground Sichuan pepper.

Whether or not the Pock-Marked Old Lady actually existed is open to debate. The story may have been derived from the fact that the same character is used for both "pockmark" and "numb". Aside from similarities in etymology, the story may be purely mythic/anecdotal.

Some cite the simplicity of the dish as supporting evidence for the story.

Wikibooks Cookbook has an article on

Mapo Doufu

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Mapo doufu

• Ma Po Tofu recipe
• Mapo Tofu Recipe from Rose's Kitchenette
• Ma Po Tofu Recipe from Lee Kum Kee

• Sichuan cuisine