Taste Scoring
★★★★★ Cooking time: 18 minutes, Preparation: 10 minutes + Hot Cook: 4 minutes + Heating extension 4 minutes
Since making Mapo Tofu in the Hot Cook for the first time last spring, I’ve gone through a lot of trial and error, trying to make it taste good! This time, I’ve finally come up with a dish that I’m satisfied with, so I’m releasing the recipe. I’m very confident that this is as good as the Mapo Tofu you get at restaurants or take-out!
There are a few different types of seasonings to use, but once you buy them, you can easily make the dish many times, so I highly recommend you get them all. You can use seasonings from any manufacturer.
The three major Chinese seasonings, Tenmenjang (Sweetened Soybean Paste), Toubanjang (Chinese Chili Bean Sauce), and oyster sauce, are useful not only for making Mapo Tofu but also for many other Chinese dishes. We use seasonings of Yuki Shokuhin in our house.
Tenmenjang (Sweetened Soybean Paste)
Toubanjang (Chinese Chili Bean Sauce)
Oyster Sauce
For Chinese soup (chicken broth), we always use “Shantan,” but any brand will do.
Hwajiaofen, a Chinese spice that is the key to the flavor of Mapo Tofu, can be found in any supermarket that has a Chinese section. It costs about 100 Japanese yen for a 5g pack.
Sichuan Pepper is a “numbing” spice that is often used in authentic Sichuan cuisine.
In our recommended recipe, we use 1.5 grams of Sichuan Pepper. But please beware that it can make your mouth quite numb!
Hwajiaofen (Sichuan Pepper)
WHAT IS HOT COOK？
Hot Cook is Japanese popular cookware, waterless automatic cooking pot series, made by SHARP. Just put the ingredients in the pot and press the switch to automatically prepare a variety of dishes.
HOT COOK 1.6L size (for 2-4 people), Latest model with a fluorine-coated inner pot
This article introduces recipes using the Hot Cook, which has become an indispensable part of our home.
Hot Cook Recipe [Stir-fried beancurd in hot sauce (Mapo Tofu)] One Point Advice
- The most important point is to first add “ground pork, water, chicken broth, and potato starch” to the hot cook inner pot and stir well to loosen the meat.
Hot Cook Recipe [Stir-fried beancurd in hot sauce (Mapo Tofu)] Ingredients: 4 people
◆Tofu (silk): 300g
◆Meat seasoning
- Water: 100ml
- Ground pork: 150g
- Chicken soup stock: 1 tablespoon
- Potato starch: 1 tablespoon
◆Green onion soybean paste
- Leek (white part), coarsely chopped: 1/2 piece
- Garlic, finely chopped: 1 clove
- Ginger (tube): 1 tablespoon
- Chinese Chili Bean Sauce: 2 teaspoons
- Sweetened soybean paste: 2 teaspoons
- Oyster sauce: 1 teaspoon
- Pepper: as needed
- Soy sauce: 1 tablespoon
- Sake: 1 tablespoon
- Sesame oil: 1 teaspoon
- Hwajiaofen (Sichuan Pepper): 1.5g
Hot Cook Recipe [Stir-fried beancurd in hot sauce (Mapo Tofu)] How to make
- Prepare 1.5 grams of Hwajiaofen (Chinese pepper powder).
- Coarsely chop the green onions and place them in a bowl.
- Add all the seasonings for “green onion soybean paste” into the bowl and mix well.
Garlic, Tenmenjang (sweetened soybean paste), Toubanjang (Chinese Chili Bean Sauce), oyster sauce, pepper, soy sauce, sake, sesame oil, and Hwajiaofen (Chinese pepper powder)
- First, put 100ml of water into the pot, add chicken stock, minced pork, and potato starch, stir well and break up the minced meat well.
- Next, add the green onion soybean paste and spread the surface flat with a spoon. Do not mix the meat and the soybean paste at this time; leave the two layers intact.
Cook manually => Stir-fry => Set cooking time to “4 minutes” => Start
- Cut up the silken tofu and place it on a paper towel to drain.
- When the chime rings for it to be ready, open the lid and add all the tofu you have prepared.
- Close the lid of the Hot Cook again. Stir-fry for another “4 minutes” with the heating extension.
When you hear the finishing chime, open the lid, mix it up, and place it in a bowl to serve.
I used to make Mapo Tofu using the “Simmer” function of the Hot Cook.
However, after purchasing the fluorine-coated inner pot (sold separately) in October last year, the “stir-fry” function of the Hot Cook has been improved dramatically!
When I make Mapo Tofu using the “Stir-Fry” function, it turns out perfectly!
If you don’t have a fluorine-coated inner pot yet, you should definitely consider buying one!
HOTCOOK 1.6L size (for 2-4 people), Latest model with a fluorine-coated inner pot
HOTCOOK 2.4L size (for 2-6 people), Latest model with a fluorine-coated inner pot
Useful notes
Good news for those who use the old model of Hot Cook with stainless steel inner pot! The long-awaited hot cook fluorine-coated inner pot is now on sale as an option!
I bought it online!
Now you can cook without worrying about cooking menus that stick to the bottom of the pot. Check it out if you are interested!
The fluorine-coated inner pot has FB at the end of the model number. Please be careful when purchasing. F refers to “fluorine.”
Sharp TJ-KN1FB Inner Pot for Hot Cooks, 0.4 gal (1.6 L) Type, Fluorine Coating
Sharp TJ-KN2FB Inner Pot for Hot Cooks, 0.6 gal (2.4 L) Type, Fluorine Coating
Sharp TJ-KN05FB Inner Pot for Hot Cooks, (1.0 L) Type, Fluorine Coating
