Mapo Tofu

Mapo tofu is a popular dish from Sichuan, China, consisting of tofu set in a thin, oily, bright red spicy sauce, likely originating at a Chengdu restaurant in the 1860s or 1870s associated with the Chen Mapo eatery. Its sauce is built from doubanjiang, a fermented broad bean and chili paste, and douchi, fermented black beans, combined with minced meat, traditionally beef, chili oil, chili flakes, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, ginger and green onion. The dish is prized for combining ordinary chili heat with the numbing mala sensation distinctive to Sichuan peppercorns. Its name translates to pockmarked old woman beancurd, ma meaning pockmarks and po meaning old woman or grandmother, a reference to the dish's traditional creator.