Ma Po Tofu with Snake Beans

This is another one of my mum's recipes. She's put her own spin on the home style dish "ma po tofu" by adding snake beans and a few other ingredients. I love how easy it is to prepare this dish and how delicious it tastes.

Ingredients

500g pork mince
1 teaspoon cornflour
4 tablespoons Amoy Ma Po Tofu Sauce
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon oil
100g snake beans, cut into 2cm pieces
300g silken tofu, diced

Method

1. Season the pork with the cornflour and a bit of pepper
2. Mix all the sauces together- ma po tofu, tomato and sweet chilli sauce in a bowl then set aside
3. Add oil to wok over high heat, add the pork, stir fry until browned, then add the beans
4. When the pork and beans are almost cooked, add the sauces and mix well, then add the diced tofu. Adjust seasoning. Serve hot with rice.

Tofu Panna Cotta

Ingredients

300g silken tofu
10g or 1 envelope powdered gelatin
3 tbsp hot water
½ cup caster sugar
1 cup soy milk

Method

1. Whisk the powdered gelatine and hot water together in a small bowl. Set aside the gelatine for 5 minutes to bloom.
2. Meanwhile, in a blender, combine the silken tofu, sugar and soy milk. Blend on high until smooth.
3. Transfer the tofu mixture to a small saucepan. Bring the tofu to a simmer while stirring constantly, but not to a boil, just until the mixture begins to bubble, then add gelatine. Whisk mixture until gelatine has completely dissolved then remove saucepan from the heat.
4. Pour the tofu mixture through a strainer when adding into moulds, to remove any lumps.
5. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until set.
6. To unmould the panna cotta, briefly dip the bot­tom of each mould in a bowl of hot water. Invert the panna cotta onto a dessert plate and care­fully lift off the mould (shake gen­tly if necessary).

Notes & Tips

You can also spray moulds with a little oil prior to transferring the tofu mixture to help the panna cotta come out easily when ready to unmould

If you are having difficulty removing the panna cotta from its mould, run a thin knife around the inside edge of the mould to loosen the panna cotta.

Ma Po Tofu

Ma Po Tofu is a popular Chinese dish from the Sichuan province. It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) set in a spicy chilli & bean based sauce and often topped with pork minced meat. Hot/spicy bean sauce is sold in Chinese grocery specialty stores.

Serves 2 as a main entree, or 4 as part of a multi-course meal

Ingredients

300g packet of silken tofu
2 tablespoons peanut oil
200g fatty pork mince
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon spicy black bean sauce
¼ cup shao hsing wine
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
¼ teaspoon Sichuan salt and pepper
spring onions, sliced, to serve

Method

1. Gently remove tofu from packet and invert onto a plate. Carefully cut into 20 cubes by cutting lengthways into four equal slices, then widthways into five slices, draining off any excess liquid.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly.
3. Add pork and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Remove pork with a slotted spoon and set aside.
4. Add garlic and spicy black bean sauce, then reduce heat and stir fry on low heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Return pork to wok with wine and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add soy sauce and sugar and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and carefully slide tofu into wok, gently separating the cubes as they fall into the pork mixture. Simmer, covered, for 3 minutes.
6. Spoon into shallow bowl, sprinke with Sichuan pepper and salt and garnish with spring onions.