I came across the best version of mapo tofu in Chengdu, Sichuan with my wife at Hen Niu De (很牛的馆子), a restaurant that’s plopped right across from Southwest Jiaotong University. It’s among the corridor of Sichuanese eateries fiercely competing for the local student body. Turns out, with a name meaning both Kickass Restaurant (colloquially) and Especially Beefy Restaurant (literally), the place pretty much screams you’re about to experience something special.
True to its title, Hen Niu De focuses only on dishes that celebrate beef. Its mapo tofu (13 RMB/$1.85 USD), tucked away on the 11th page of the menu, deserves to be a staple in any meal there. The tofu is firm yet slippery, curds wearing notes of aged broad beans and green sichuan peppercorns. Unlike its famous sibling, the red sichuan peppercorn, green peppercorns are intensely floral. They’re characterized by jasmine, white pepper, and unripe citrus, an elegant numb without the sharpness.
Shovel a scoop of rice and Hen Niu De mapo tofu into your mouth and, well, 🤯.
Much has to do with how the restaurant layers xianwei (umami) for the dish. They rehydrate dried erjintao chilis before blending them into a paste. The result is a savoriness absent from simply using fresh chilis. This technique reminds me of how Cantonese chefs dehydrate scallops for more xianwei before reconstituting them in water for cooking.
But there’s more. The fatty beef is minced just enough so you’ll get pops of both marbling and meat. Tallow, rather than cooking oil, is preferred in the kitchen and imbues a gamier note. Then, couple that with some pinches of msg to blur the dish’s sharp edges. With each bite, you’re hard pressed to forget you’re in some sort of bovine temple.
This, my friends, is my adaptation of how lucky Hen Niu De Restaurant made me feel at that moment.
NOTES BEFORE WE START
I prefer to measure everything in grams for accuracy since volumetric measurements can be volatile in the home kitchen. That said, feel free to adjust accordingly to your palate and availability of ingredients.
For peace of mind, I suggest gathering and measuring all ingredients first, then storing them in small bowls. You don’t want to be in a situation where you’re performing knife work while simultaneously cooking. If you have all the ingredients ready to go, you’ll have an easier time as you execute the recipe.
YOU’LL NEED | Serves 4
225g or 0.5 lb of well marbled ribeye or short rib, finely minced (not ground), with 1% salt in weight added
Can substitute with mushrooms for a vegetarian alternative450g or 1 lb soft tofu (not silken, not firm, soft), cut into 2.5 cm cubes
10g dried erjintao chilis
Can substitute with dried hunan chilis
5g green sichuan peppercorns (preferably)
Can substitute with red sichuan peppercorns
- 15g ginger, peeled and minced (about 2” knob peeled)
20g whole erjintao or tianjin chilis (soaked overnight, then minced finely into a paste)
Can substitute with sambal olek chili paste
15g or approx 1 tbsp dried fermented black beans, soaked overnight in water, strained
Can substitute with taucheo bean (does not have to be soaked)
30g or approx 2 hefty tbsp pixian doubanjiang (fermented broad bean paste)
The preferred brand in Sichuan is Juancheng (鹃城) Pixian Doubanjiang, available at most Chinese supermarkets
340g or approx 1.5 cups fresh beef stock
Can substitute with water
30g or approx 2 tbsp rendered beef tallow (fat)
Can substitute with neutral cooking oil, preferably grapeseed or canola oil
1 green onion, sliced thinly into rings
6g or 1 tsp of monosodium glutamate (MSG) or powdered chicken bouillon
6g or 1 tsp dark soy sauce
3g or 0.5 tsp granulated sugar
30g or approx 2 tbsp Lanzhou chili crisp oil
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4 tbsp of slurry (3 tsp of potato starch mixed with 3 tbsp of water).
Can substitute with either tapioca starch or cornstarch
PREPARE THE RIBEYE
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225g or 0.5 lb of well marbled ribeye or short rib, finely minced (not ground), with 1% salt in weight added.
Let beef rest with salt for either at least 2 hours or ideally overnight. Salting the protein in advance helps break down some of its muscle structure and encourages a juicier mouthfeel when cooked, like a sausage.
PREPARE THE TOFU
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450g or 1 lb soft tofu (not silken, not firm, soft), cut into 2.5 cm cubes
Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Season generously with salt. Add in tofu and stir gently, allowing the water to come back up to a simmer. Continue simmering for 2 - 3 minutes.
By blanching the tofu, we’re removing some of the harsh, beany aroma while hydrating the tofu. Once the tofu takes on a silky sheen and supple texture, that’s where it wants to be. Strain, and set aside.
PREPARE THE CHILIS
10g dried erjintao chilis
Can substitute with dried hunan chilis
5g green sichuan peppercorns (preferably)
Can substitute with red sichuan peppercorns
Set up a plate with a paper towel on top. This will help blotch any excess oil for the following method.
In a saute pan, over low/medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, followed by the chili flakes and green Sichuan peppercorns. Gently shallow fry the ingredients for about 20 seconds, until the chilis reach a crimson hue. Be careful not to burn them. Should the chilis turn darker than mahogany, you risk your chilis tasting bitter. Immediately strain onto the plate with the paper towel.
Once cooled, use a coffee grinder to pulverize the chili-peppercorn mix into a very fine powder. Alternatively, you could finely chop the chili-peppercorn mix with a knife. Bottom line: the finer the better. For those who are not used to eating Sichuan peppercorns, biting into a gravel-sized peppercorn may come as an overly numbing surprise. Set the mix aside.
PREPARE EVERYTHING ELSE
- 15g ginger, minced and peeled (about 2” knob peeled)
20g whole erjintao or tianjin chilis (soaked overnight, then minced finely into a paste)
Can substitute with sambal olek chili paste
15g or approx 1 tbsp dried fermented black beans, soaked overnight in water, strained
Can substitute for taucheo bean (does not have to be soaked)
30g or approx 2 hefty tbsp pixian doubanjiang (fermented broad bean paste)
The preferred brand in Sichuan is Juancheng (鹃城) Pixian Doubanjiang, available at most Chinese supermarkets
340g or approx 1.5 cups fresh beef stock
Can substitute with water
30g or approx 2 tbsp rendered beef tallow (fat)
Can substitute with neutral cooking oil, preferably grapeseed or canola oil
1 green onion, sliced thinly into rings
6g or 1 tsp of monosodium glutamate (MSG) or powdered chicken bouillon
6g or 1 tsp dark soy sauce
3g or 0.5 tsp granulated sugar
30g or approx 2 tbsp Lanzhou chili crisp oil
4 tbsp of slurry (3 tsp of potato starch mixed with 3 tbsp of water).
Can substitute with either tapioca starch or cornstarch
LET’S ROLL
Heat a medium-size wok or large saute pan over medium-high heat.
Add the beef tallow and warm the fat until it begins to smoke slightly. Add the salted minced beef and saute until medium rare. Set aside. Leave behind any residual beef fat in the wok. If none, add 1 to 2 tbsp more beef tallow.
Add in the pixian doubanjiang to the wok and reduce the heat to medium. Saute for about 2 - 3 minutes until the paste aromatizes. Add in the bowl of minced ginger, minced soaked chilis, and soaked fermented black beans. Saute for another 2 - 3 minutes. Once the ginger begins to perfume, add in 1.5 cups of beef stock and wait for everything to boil.
Add in the blanched soft tofu, 5g of the pulverized chili-peppercorn blend, dark soy sauce, msg, and sugar. Slowly stir everything while the liquid in the wok comes up to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
Add in the previously cooked minced beef until warmed through. Stir, taste, and season with salt accordingly.
To prepare for the final cooking process, warm up the dishware you’d like to serve your mapo tofu in in either a microwave or preheated oven at 250° fahrenheit.
You’re going to fortify the viscosity of the mapo tofu with the potato starch slurry in 3 stages. According to Sichuanese cuisine, multiple layers of starch gelatinization promote a silkier mouthfeel. Be sure the slurry is mixed well right before adding, since starch tends to separate in water over time. Once the mapo tofu is at a boil:
Add in 2 tbsp of the slurry into the mapo tofu. Stir to evenly distribute the slurry. Cook for 20 seconds then add another 1 tbsp of the slurry, continuously stirring for 20 seconds. Add 1 more tbsp of the slurry in the 3rd stage. By now the sauce should seize up to the consistency of loose curry. Drizzle in the Lanzhou chili crisp oil and transfer the mapo tofu to the warmed plate.
Dust another 1 tbsp of the chili-peppercorn mix on top. Garnish with the sliced green onions. Enjoy with steamed rice. 🙏