hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re getting back into our series dedicated to foods from the wonderful restaurant scene here in the Bay Area with a shot at a really interesting mapo tofu found at Spices 3, in Oakland, CA. More specifically today, we’re going to be taking a shot at at their stinky mapo tofu, which is (as the name implies) a pretty typical Sichuan mapo tofu (or spicy ground pork and tofu stir fry), with the added twist that the tofu included is not your more typical soft tofu, but a Chinese fermented “chou doufu,” or more colloquially, “stinky tofu.” 

For those unfamiliar, chou doufu is is a Hong Kong street food classic featuring firm tofu that has been aged in a fermented bean curd, which gives it a uniquely pungent and “stinky” quality. More typically in Chinese cuisine, you might see this deep fried and served as a small plate with a light sauce on the side. For our version today however, we’ll be skipping that deep fry, and instead dropping our chou doufu straight into our wok fry for an interestingly complex quality to our tofu that you generally would not otherwise come across in a more standard mapo tofu. Finally to round this all out, it seemed appropriate to take a shot at our own chili oil today as well (since we are paying homage to Spices 3), so, we’ll be taking a look at how that stuff is made (and more importantly), if it’s worth the effort, since you can absolutely just buy that stuff in a jar. Hope you try it. 

The recipe will be out on November 26th, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 clove garlic

• 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

• 3 green onions

• 2 tbsp corn starch + water

• 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn

• peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (chou doufu)

• 1 block tofu (soft or firm)

• 4-5 pieces fermented bean curd

• 4 cups water

• 2 tbsp Chinese rice wine (baijiu)

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

INGREDIENTS (chile oil)

• 6-8 Thai chiles

• 4-6 Tian Jin peppers

• 1/4 cup peanut oil

• *optional* can be subbed with 2 tbsp of lao gan ma chile oil

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 2 tbsp doubanjiang

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

• 8oz ground pork

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

• 1/2 tsp corn starch

• 1/2 tsp white pepper