Asian Grocer Online
Asian Grocer Online App
Powered by UMALL
Code AGO10: $10 off your first app order
Scan to open or download the app.
Download app
🚚 Free Sydney Delivery on Orders $69+
💰 Delivery Fees Now Up to 40% Cheaper
🚀 Order by 12pm for Same-Day Delivery
Mapo Tofu Lite, the Chengdu Way
Half the beef, made up with shimeji mushrooms, and a quarter of the oil, with the same Pixian chilli bean paste, green garlic and Sichuan pepper
About 35% fewer calories than the standard version, for a similar amount of food per serve. Same Pixian paste, black beans and Sichuan pepper; the sauce is a little less rich, with a thin red sheen instead of a red rim.
A lighter Chengdu-style mapo tofu: half the beef, made up with finely chopped shimeji mushrooms, and a quarter of the oil, for about a third fewer calories per serve. Ready in 30 minutes.
Ingredients for 3
Tofu and beef
-
500 g
medium-firm tofu1 block, cut into 2 cm cubes
-
75 g
beef mincelean if you can find it
-
100 g
shimeji mushroomsfinely chopped
- 1 tsp saltfor the blanching water only
Sauce base
-
30 g (1½ tbsp)
Pixian broad bean paste (doubanjiang)finely chopped
-
8 g (1 tbsp)
fermented black beans (douchi)rinsed and roughly chopped
-
3 g (1½ tsp)
Sichuan chilli powderuse less for a milder dish
-
3 cloves (10 g)
garlicminced
-
10 g
fresh gingerminced
-
10 ml (2 tsp)
rapeseed or other neutral oil
- 300 ml water or unsalted chicken stock
-
1 tsp
light soy sauce
-
½ tsp
sugar
To finish
-
12 g (1½ tbsp)
cornflourmixed with 60 ml cold water
-
2 stalks (40 g)
green garlic (garlic leaves)cut into 2 cm slanted pieces, white and green parts kept apart; or 2 spring onions
-
½ tsp
ground roasted Sichuan pepperto taste
Australian tablespoons are 20 ml. Weights are given for the ingredients where it matters.
Method
-
Step 1Prep everything
Cut the tofu into 2 cm cubes. Chop the mushrooms finely, to about the size of beef crumbs. Finely chop the broad bean paste and roughly chop the black beans. Mince the garlic and ginger. Cut the green garlic, keeping the white parts separate from the leaves. Mix the cornflour with 60 ml cold water. Use a non-stick wok or large frying pan.
-
Step 2Blanch the tofu
Bring about 1 litre of water and 1 tsp salt to a bare simmer. Slide in the tofu and keep it just below a boil for 1 minute. Leave the tofu in the warm water until you need it.
-
Step 3Dry-fry the mushrooms
Put the mushrooms in the dry pan over medium-high heat. Stir now and then for 4–5 minutes, until their liquid has cooked off and they start to brown. Tip them onto a plate. Don't add oil here: mushrooms soak it up.
-
Step 4Fry the beef
Add the 2 tsp oil and the beef. Fry for about 3 minutes until browned and dry, leaving it alone for 30 seconds at a time so it catches a little. Return the mushrooms to the pan.
-
Step 5Make the red oil
Turn the heat to medium-low and push the beef and mushrooms to one side. Fry the broad bean paste for 1–2 minutes, until it turns deep red and smells rich. If the pan looks dry and the paste starts to stick, add a splash of the stock rather than more oil. Add the black beans, chilli powder, garlic and ginger and fry for 30 seconds more.
-
Step 6Add liquid and season
Pour in the water or stock and bring it to the boil. Add the soy sauce and sugar. Taste before adding any salt, because the bean paste is already salty.
-
Step 7Simmer the tofu
Drain the tofu and slide it into the sauce. Push it gently with the back of the ladle rather than stirring. Simmer on medium for 4–5 minutes so the tofu takes on the flavour.
-
Step 8Thicken in three stages
Stir the slurry. Pour a third of it around the edge of the pan and shake the pan gently. Wait 20–30 seconds and repeat twice. Add the white parts of the green garlic with the second addition and the leaves with the last. Stop when the sauce is glossy and clings to the tofu.
-
Step 9Serve hot
Slide it into a shallow bowl, sprinkle over the ground Sichuan pepper and serve straight away with steamed rice.
Watch it in 72 seconds
Get the AGO app
A$10 off your first app order with code AGO10
Scan with your phone camera
Get the appWhy this version works
- Mushrooms carry the mince. Chopped small and dry-fried, shimeji brown and soak up the sauce, so half the beef still feels like a full pan of mapo tofu.
- Most of the saving is oil. The standard recipe uses 40 ml; in a non-stick pan 2 teaspoons is enough, and the cornflour slurry keeps the sauce glossy.
- The flavour builders stay. The same Pixian paste, black beans, chilli, green garlic and Sichuan pepper, so it still tastes like Chengdu.
Swaps and variations
- Lighter still: use silken tofu and blanch it for only 30 seconds. It is softer and saves roughly another 20 kcal per serve.
- Extra-lean pork mince works in place of the beef, with about the same calories.
- Lower sodium: use 20 g of bean paste and leave out the soy sauce. This cuts about a third of the sodium.
Nutrition per serve
| Per serve (1/3 of recipe) | About |
|---|---|
| Energy | 953 kJ (228 kcal) |
| Protein | 20.2 g |
| Fat, total | 12.4 g |
| Carbohydrate | 8.4 g |
| sugars | 2.7 g |
| Sodium | 1056 mg |
Calculated by Umall from the ingredient weights, using the label of the tofu we link (Evergreen Classic Tofu) and the Australian Food Composition Database (FSANZ); shimeji are counted as common mushrooms and the beef as regular mince. Values are estimates; a firmer tofu adds about 110 kcal per serve. Energy bands are a guide to portion size, not a health claim.
Questions about Mapo Tofu Lite
Where can I buy Pixian doubanjiang, shimeji and the other ingredients in Sydney?
Big supermarkets may stock a general chilli bean sauce, but Pixian doubanjiang, fermented black beans, green garlic and ground Sichuan pepper are easiest to find at an Asian grocer. Umall, the online Asian grocer behind the AGO (Asian Grocer Online) app, stocks all 10 ingredients for this recipe and delivers same-day or next-day across Sydney Metro, and on set days to Wollongong and Canberra.
- medium-firm tofu
- beef mince
- shimeji mushrooms
- Pixian broad bean paste (doubanjiang)
- fermented black beans (douchi)
- Sichuan chilli powder
- garlic
- fresh ginger
- green garlic (garlic leaves) sold out right now, try Green Shallots Bunch (Spring Onion)
- ground roasted Sichuan pepper
Or tap Buy all to add everything in one go, in quantities matched to pack sizes.
Is mapo tofu healthy?
It can be. This Lite version has about 230 kcal and 20 g of protein per serve, because it uses 2 teaspoons of oil instead of 2 tablespoons and replaces half the beef with mushrooms. Like most Sichuan dishes it is high in sodium, about 1,060 mg per serve. To cut that by about a third, use 20 g of bean paste and leave out the soy sauce.
Can I make mapo tofu vegetarian?
Yes. Leave out the beef, use 200 g of shimeji in total and use water rather than chicken stock. Fry the chopped mushrooms until they are dry and browned before you add the bean paste, so they stay firm in the sauce.
What can I use instead of shimeji mushrooms?
Oyster or enoki mushrooms work well. Chop them small and dry-fry them until they brown, the same way as the shimeji. Fresh shiitake also works and has a stronger flavour.
What can I use instead of Pixian doubanjiang?
Another Sichuan chilli bean paste is the closest swap, such as Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean Sauce (toban djan). It is smoother and less complex, but the dish still works. Korean gochujang is not a good substitute: it is sweet and is not made with broad beans.
Sources and credit
Lighter version by the Umall recipe team, based on our standard mapo tofu (adapted from Chef Wang Gang and cross-checked with Chen Kenmin). The lighter techniques, mushrooms for part of the meat and much less oil, follow the Japanese and Chinese home-cooking sources listed below.
- 美食作家王刚 (Chef Wang Gang), 厨师长教你：麻婆豆腐的正宗做法, video, 2018
- 陳建民 (Chen Kenmin), 麻婆豆腐, NHK きょうの料理
- DELISH KITCHEN, 肉なし麻婆豆腐 (shimeji instead of meat)
- 札幌市南区 健康レシピ, 麻婆豆腐 (less oil, more vegetables)
- 協会けんぽ埼玉, カラフル麻婆豆腐 (less meat, lighter tofu)
- 新浪, 麻婆豆腐的热量高吗？ (oil from 30–50 ml down to 10–15 ml)
- Chloe Ting, Healthy Mapo Tofu (1 tsp oil in a non-stick pan)
