I’ve always liked Mark Bittman’s recipes and outlook on making great-tasting food.
A few years ago, my sister or mom gave me his book, How to Cook Everything. It’s been handy and my wife and I have enjoyed numerous recipes, including one for pumpkin soup, another for grilled chicken with lime and cilantro and steps on making a fresh tomato sauce with herbs.
But I think he missed the mark, just a bit, with his Bitten blog post on Faux Ma Po Tofu. It ran in The New York Times.
His first sentence tripped me up, especially since I’ve long enjoyed mapo tofu:
Last week, everything came together for a weird, accidental, successful vegan take on ma-po tofu.
I realize he embraces innovation and that’s probably why he talked about using cauliflower and grains in his blog post.
On a day when you want to find a cool body of water in which to dunk yourself comes one thought: Mapo tofu.
As in: Eating a healthy amount when Seattle-area temperatures are hitting well into the 90s. Seriously.
I know: Many people in the Seattle region are flocking to the nearby Puget Sound, lakes or rivers.
But apparently, some believe (and I get the sense it’s people from Sichuan province) that the dish’s Sichuan peppercorn and chili peppers might actually cool you down.
This Iron Chef video clip featuring Chen Kenichi and Chiyo Cho runs a bit long. But it’s worth hanging on to the end, near the seven-minute mark, to see the tofu creations.
I’ve always been a fan of mapo tofu. So, that dish quickly won me over.
Chen used his dad’s recipe in this battle royal of sorts. And one judge, a food critic, noted that Chen’s dad introduced the dish to Japan.
But the other dishes really demonstrate how the human mind, sense of taste and ingredients can come together for genuine creations.
So, let’s get to the cooking. Watch this video first and read comments and a translation of the recipe after the jump. The video is in Chinese but the steps are straightforward.
I agree with one online commenter: This video is pretty good.
That phrase “Go West, Young Man!” has ricocheted for years throughout the United States.
But if I’m anxious, or my stomach grumbles or my mind is unfocused, I do something different: I seek mapo tofu.
It’s the famous dish that hails from Sichuan province.
In the Seattle area, my family and I head to Old Sichuan at 18124 E. Valley Hwy. in Kent, Wash. It’s south of the Emerald City in a small strip mall near an Indian restaurant. The neighboring shopping and dining complex is the Great Wall Mall.
Why this restaurant?
Well, it’s close to us. But it also offers just the right amount of hot chili pepper oil to produce the kick and sweat to satisfy. I don’t know if the heavy-duty flame used in the kitchen helps. Or the peppercorn. But everything works.
And if you wait a moment or two after the flavors enter your mouth, a slight numbing aftertaste will arrive. Yeah, I know. Nice.
Good old-fashioned white rice works with the food. My wife likes the dish with no meat because it offers a purer chili taste that complements the soybean cake.
While some places mix in beef, this cook dishes it up with pork ($7.50). If you prefer the vegetarian option, you’ll pay $6.95. Weekday lunch diners can take advantage of the $5.50 mapo tofu special (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.).
The restaruant also offers a clean-and-tidy dining area. Traditional wooden frames used in China line the wall. Black-and-white photos give you a sense of the country’s architecture. Replicas of chili peppers, corn and garlic also decorate the place.
In English, the owner calls it Szechuan First – but the Chinese characters translate differently.
Some Chinese restaurants in the Seattle area fall short with mapo tofu because they provide little chili oil. Or the cook might not be from Sichuan. Or the dish lacks key ingredients or something. But this place comes through.
There are three Old Sichuan restaurants that I’ve seen in the Seattle area. One is in Seattle’s International District at 1048 S. Jackson St. It’s more down-home. It’s obviously closer for Seattle residents and office workers. And the prices look competitive.
The other is in Redmond, Wash., closer to Microsoft, at 15005 NE 24th Ave. It’s near a Sears.
These two restaurants share a Web site, which talks of how chef Kao Hsiao-Sung missed homestyle Sichuan cooking and opened his Seattle place in 1994. Both offer delicious food.
Word of advice: If you’re trying to impress friends who aren’t adventurous, go elsewhere. Or order something else.
Ditto goes for eating the dish if you need to win over clients or close a business contract.
There is a chance you’ll hear the polite comment: “Yes, this meal is a bit odoriferous.”
But if your friends or guests are adventurous or have visited Asia, then tell the cook: “Load up those chili peppers. We’re on a taste test.”
For too long, bean curd has flown under the radar for too many people in the West.
Derided as a bland, squishy mass, it has earned the reputation in some circles as something to be avoided. It’s not meat. It can show up in a tub of water. And few wine sellers, if any at all, have assistants stand next to Italian or California vintages to recommend a nice bottle to go with, well, a soybean concoction.
Welcome to TofuWatch.com. I’d like to change this perception – at least to a degree. This blog marks a new beginning of sorts because I recently was a newspaper reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which stopped printing in March. I hope my former colleagues are well.
This blog will be an amalgamation of various takes on this vegetarian food, as well as current events and other pressing subjects. I’m launching from the Seattle area. But I welcome notes, especially about tofu dishes, from people worldwide.
So, why tofu? Why pay attention to it?
When prepared just right – say cubed in a piping hot fish broth on a frigid day, or chilled with preserved duck egg and green onions resting on top, or marinated in soy sauce and barbecued – you’ll likely have two reactions: Wow. Nice.
If you don’t, that’s fine. But please invite me to your meal.
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