Comfort food always helps me to feel warmth. It reminds me of home and if gives me a sense of safety and belonging. Cooking this time of year helps to keep my mind off chaos. I love the feeling of manipulating food. I love playing with traditional recipes and giving it new life, a new twist – adapting to my new lifestyle such as this Not So Spicy Vegan Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐 recipe. Similar to how Grandma used to make it, yet totally different. This healthy vegetarian recipe is good for anyone looking to have a flavorful vegetarian meal. Either way, you make it you will have a delicious Chinese homey meal that is great served with plain white jasmine rice. This quick and easy recipe is ready in 15 minutes!
Instead of pork, you can easily make it vegan without compromising on flavour by using mushrooms. King oyster mushrooms are probably best for texture and mouthfeel. If you find yourself short of king oysters, button mushrooms works just as wonderful.
MAPO TOFU CALLS FOR FIVE MAIN INGREDIENTS:
- Tofu (medium firm tofu works best)
- Mushrooms (button or king oysters)
- Black bean sauce with garlic
- Vegetable Broth
- Sichuan Peppercorn
I also like that it has garlic and ginger in it – it is the perfect boost for your immune, fights cold and the flu and also is antibacterial! If you fancy, dice up some onions and sautee the onions with garlic and ginger until soft and golden.
If you don’t like biting into tiny gingers, I recommend grating it.
Sichuan peppercorns are very spicy with a long lingering burn. And the black bean sauce with garlic is very salty. It is important to start with a little, taste, and adjust to your preference. Always taste throughout making this recipe.
If it is too bland, add more black bean sauce. Personally I like adding another tablespoon of sichuan peppercorn, but it is your mapo tofu, not mine.
Did you make this recipe? I’d love see how you went with my recipes! Leave a comment below or Tag me on Instagram @Instanomss #instanomss
This recipe was adapted from Juno Kim.
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Not So Spicy Vegan Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 bowls 1x
- Category: main dish
- Method: stir fry
- Cuisine: Chinese, Vegan
Description
Not So Spicy Vegan Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐 is a classic Chinese Cantonese dish. It is one of my childhood favourite comfort homecooked dishes. For a healthier take on Mapo Tofu, try Mapo Tofu with mushrooms. This healthy vegetarian recipe is good for anyone looking to have a flavorful vegetarian meal. Either way, you make it you will have a delicious Chinese homey meal that is great served with plain white jasmine rice. This quick and easy recipe is ready in 15 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
- 15 Button Mushrooms (or 4 Large king oyster mushrooms), finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon sichuan peppercorn, more if you prefer spicier
- 3 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 6 cloves garlic, minced 蒜
- 1/2 tablespoon black bean sauce with garlic
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1.5 teaspoon corn starch
- 400g Tofu (medium or firm works best)
- Drizzle of toasted sesame oil
- 1 stalk of green onions, finely chopped for garnish 蔥
- drizzle of XO chili oil to taste
Instructions
- In a heavy bottomed non-stick Wok or Cast Iron, heat oil over medium high heat. Let the oil simmer, not smoke.
- Sautee garlic, ginger and onions, stir for 30 seconds.
- Add in mushrooms and cook evenly until golden brown. Stir every 20 seconds so it doesn’t stick to the pan.
- Add in sichuan peppercorns and cook for a minute.
- Add in black bean sauce with garlic. Stir and cook for a minute.
- Add your vegetable broth, stir and bring to a simmer.
- In a seperate small bowl, dissolve 1.5 teaspoon of corn starch into cold water and add this mixture into your pot and stir evenly. Add more if you prefer your mapo tofu thicker.
- Add your tofu and sesame oil and stir gentlely.
- Adjust your spice preference. If you do not find it spicy enough, add a little bit more sichuan peppercorns.
- Serve and enjoy over jasmine white rice!
Notes
- Start with less black bean sauce with garlic as it can get quite salty.
- No need to add extra salt.
Keywords: vegan mapo tofu, vegan chinese cuisine, vegetarian chinese recipes, 經典廣東手工菜, classic Chinese Cantonese cuisine, chinese recipes, mushroom recipes, chinese dishes, comfort food
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This looks delicious, and replacing the meat with mushrooms sounds even better. I have some tofu in the fridge so now I know what we’ll be eating this weekend. Thanks!
★★★★★
Hope this solves dinner tonight for you 🙂
This sounds fantastic – I love everything in here.
Curious if there is a substitute for the black bean and garlic sauce?
★★★★★
you can also try using oyster sauce if you want to sub out black bean sauce. The flavour profile will be a little less strong
I have been looking for some vegetarian recipes to make while we’re all stuck in and this one is great, I have everything but the black bean sauce, which is going on my grocery list!
★★★★★
Can’t wait to see what you make of it! Tag me @instanomss let me see your dish 🙂
Great idea on replacing the meat with king oyster mushrooms. I think I will like this!
★★★★★
It’s super tasty and you def won’t miss the meat!
Yum! I love mapo tofu and my oldest gorges on tofu. Do you have a recipe to make black bean garlic sauce? We aren’t going to the grocery stores and are ordering groceries online.
i haven’t tried to make my own black bean sauce – since I will have to buy and ferment the black beans 🙂 Hopefully you can get your hands on it. Or you can order it with Amazon. I’ve linked it on my blog post 🙂