Vegetarian Mapo Tofu

This recipe is based on the newer recipe from Chinese Cooking Demystified. You can watch their video on the topic or read their associated Reddit post for more information.

I can generally get green garlic from places I can get Chinese groceries (Google it and look at a picture—it may have a different name at your store).

Ingredients

  • 1 block soft tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 3 tbsp. pixian doubanjiang
  • 1 tbsp. douchi, minced
  • 1 tbsp. Sichuan peppercorns
  • 2 tbsp. chili flakes
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 inches ginger, grated
  • 1–2 stalks green garlic (or scallions), cut into 1-inch sections
  • 1 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp. liaojiu (Shaoxing wine)
  • ½ tbsp. toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp. potato starch or cornstarch, mixed into 2 tbsp. water to form a slurry
  • 5 tbsp. caiziyou (unrefined chinese rapeseed oil), or mustard oil, or neutral oil.
  • 2 tsp. MSG–nucleotide solution

Procedure

  1. Toast sichuan peppercorns in a wok for 1–2 minutes until you see little oil spots in the wok. then grind into a powder (I use a blade grinder, but I do suspect a mortar and pestle would give a better result).
  2. Heat oil in a wok. If using one of the unrefined oils (caiziyou or mustard), heat until smoking and then let cool a bit.
  3. Shut off the heat. Fry doubanjiang very gently for a couple minutes. When done, the oil should all look very red.
  4. Add in douchi, garlic, ginger, and chili flakes. Turn up heat just a tiny bit and fry for about a minute.
  5. Add a cup or so of water, and stir to scrape anything off the bottom of the wok.
  6. Very carefully add in tofu cubes, and turn up heat.
  7. Simmer for 10 minutes or so, trying to reduce by about a third. Every so often, carefully push the tofu cubes around. DO NOT STIR CARELESSLY, or you will break the tofu.
  8. Add in soy sauce, sesame oil, liaojiu, and MSG–nucleotide solution.
  9. Gradually stir in slurry until thickened to your liking. You may only need half the slurry, or you may need all of it, depending how much liquid reduced.
  10. Add in green garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds (15 seconds if using scallions)
  11. Sprinkle in Sichuan peppercorn powder and serve.

Last updated 2026-05-23