Mapo tofu with brown rice
A lighter mapo tofu: silky cubes in chilli bean sauce with a little minced pork, finished with numbing Sichuan pepper and served with brown rice.
- 55 min
- Serves 2
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Phlegm-damp types often feel heavy, phlegmy and off their food in winter. Chilli bean paste and Sichuan pepper give mapo tofu a warming, numbing heat that dries damp and wakes the appetite; with just a little pork, half the usual oil and fibre-rich brown rice, it's filling without feeling heavy.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 40 min- 1Rinse and soak the brown rice for an hour, then cook it with enough water.
- 2Cut the tofu into 2 cm cubes and soak in hot salted water for 3 minutes, then drain — this keeps it from breaking up.
- 3Stir-fry the pork in the oil until it changes colour, then add the chilli bean paste, ginger and garlic and fry gently until the oil turns red.
- 4Add the water and soy sauce and bring to the boil. Slide in the tofu and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
- 5Thicken in two additions with the cornflour mixed with a little water, scatter with the Sichuan pepper and spring onion, and serve with the rice.
Cautions
- Halve the chilli bean paste and Sichuan pepper with stomach pain, mouth ulcers or a sore throat.
Chef's tips
- Add the Sichuan pepper at the very end for the strongest aroma, and cook extra brown rice to freeze in portions.
The TCM view
Sichuan pepper is pungent and warm, warming the middle and drying damp; chilli bean paste is pungent and salty, waking the appetite; tofu is sweet and cool, supporting qi and harmonising the middle; ginger and garlic are pungent and warm, dispelling cold and transforming phlegm; brown rice strengthens the spleen. Pungent and warming, it suits phlegm-damp types on winter evenings.
