Ingredients
- Soft tofu
- Doubanjiang, fermented chili broad-bean paste
- Ground beef or pork
- Sichuan pepper
- Garlic, ginger, and a little starch to gloss the sauce
How it is cooked
- The bean paste is fried in oil until the chili turns the oil red.
- Meat is added, then stock and tofu, and the tofu is simmered without being smashed to bits.
- Sichuan pepper goes in late so the numbing smell stays.
- A gloss of starch and a spoon of chili oil finish it. It is eaten with rice, not as a dry stir-fry.
Taste
Hot, numbing, salty, and still beany. The tofu should be soft. A hotel version that is only mildly spicy is a different dish.
Possible allergens
- Doubanjiang contains broad beans and usually wheat.
- Soy sauce, which in China is often brewed with wheat.
- Meat in the standard version.
- Sichuan pepper is not a peanut, but it is a strong mouthfeel people sometimes confuse with allergy. Peanut is not classic here, and kitchens still share woks.
- A shared wok or a house chili oil can add peanut, sesame, or shellfish even when the recipe does not.