Preparation time: 20-30 minutes

Servings: 2

This is probably the most famous dish from the renown Sichuan cuisine (one of China’s greatest culinary traditions). The dish consists of silky tofu and ground meat in a spicy red sauce of Sichuan peppers and chilli bean paste.

INGREDIENTS

500g silken tofu
250g beef or pork ground meat
250ml water + 1 tsp chicken stock powder
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1½ tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
2 tsp ginger (finely sliced)
1 onion
2 spring onion (finely chopped)
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 tbsp chilli bean paste
¼ tsp sugar
1½ tsp corn flour
1 tbsp water

PREPARATION

1. Slice tofu in cubes of 2x2cm. Cut the spring onions in two parts. Cut the white part coarsely and the green part in thin slices. Boil 250ml water and add 1 tsp of chicken stock powder. Stir properly until the stock powder is dissolved.

2. Roast the Sichuan peppercorns without oil in a deep pan for stir-frying, until the peppercorns are brown and fragrant. Bruise lightly.

3. Heat some oil in a pan. Add the ground meat and separate using a spatula. Then add soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil. Fry until brown and stir using the spatula. Scoop the ground meat out of the pan and re-heat the oil.

4. Add the white part of the spring onions, the garlic, the onions and the ginger. Fry until it gives of a fragrant smell.

5. Then add the chilli bean paste together with half of the Sichuan peppecorns and stir properly.

6. Pour the chicken stock in the pan and make it boil. Then add the tofu and the ground meat.

7. Re-heat and bring to a boil, lower the heat then let ¼ of the mixture evaporate.

8. Mix the corn flour in a cup with a little cold water until it becomes a creamy liquid. Thicken the sauce by adding the creamy liquid to it while stirring.

9. Sprinke the dish with spring onions and the remaining Sichuan peppercorns.