Mapo Dofu

Time for some fun in the kitchen.

I have wanted to cook Asian food for quite a while. I even purchased a carbon steel wok last year.

I ran across a recipe for Mapo Dofu that tantalised my taste buds and made me hungry just reading it. I have ordered mapo dofu from a couple different Chinese restaurants around Auckland and thought it was time to give it a go.

With a recipe for mapo dofu in hand, I set about gathering the ingredients.

I took my list of ingredients to a couple Asian food stores. Oh, my! Many of the ingredients I am completely unfamiliar with, such as fermented chili bean paste, Sichuan peppercorns, and Xiaoxing wine. There were in some cases 20 different products for each ingredient, most of which had labels with no English whatsoever. LOL! I resorted to asking any nearby customers, most of whom either did not understand English or said they don't cook! Sometimes, you just have to go for it. :-)

I first seasoned my wok. After heaps of elbow grease to remove the factory coating, I was able to get a decent seasoning on the pan.

I prepped all the ingredients before I started, as wok cooking tends to be short and sharp.

Just as I was getting into cooking, the dish was done!

Success!

Such incredible flavour! My mouth is still numb and tingling from the Sichuan peppercorns.