Ma Po Tofu is usually cooked with chilli, but this is my version that has no chilli and one of my kids' favourite dishes.

I love using tofu as it is such a versatile ingredient in Asian cuisine. Tofu absorbs flavours and adds a different texture to so many dishes.

Method

Drain the water from the tofu and dry the tofu on kitchen paper towels. Once this is done, cut the tofu into cubes, roughly 18 pieces per block.

Heat oil in wok until quite hot.  While oil is heating up, put the preserved soya bean, Chinese cooking wine and oyster sauce in a bowl. I usually like to mash the preserved soya beans to extract as much flavour as possible. Put the tapioca flour in a bowl, coat tofu in it, shaking off excess flour and once the oil is hot slowly put the tofu in. Do this in batches, do not overcrowd the wok . 

Fry the tofu until golden turning them a couple of times, then drain on paper towels. Once all of the tofu are done, discard the oil and clean the wok.
Place the wok back on the stove and heat 2 tbsp of oil, then toss in the ginger and spring onions and fry for a minute or so until fragrant. At this stage put in the minced pork or chicken, fry until cooked, breaking up the mince as you cook. 

Then put in the sauce, stirring to combine. Do this for a minute or so. Put in the water with the powdered chicken stock and stir to combine. Cover and cooked for 5 minutes on medium heat.  Then put in the fried tofu and simmer for another 5 or so minutes. Do not add salt as the preserved soya bean is already very salty.


Just before serving, dissolve 1 tbsp of corn flour in some water and stir into the dish  to thicken the sauce. Drizzle sesame oil on top to give the dish a silken finish.


Enjoy with plain steam rice. 

 This recipehas been submitted to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday! June Round-up.  

Making Hainanese Chicken rice today.  

To go with this dish I usually make a garlic,ginger,spring onion dipping sauce and a spicy chilli sauce, which brings me to my next story about my new micro planer. 
After my last one fell apart, I was astonished at the cost of replacing one. I finally  saw a bargain that was half price at $20 at House in Forest Hill Shopping Center.

A micro planer is a worthwhile investment as it makes it so much easier when grating the garlic and ginger for my dipping sauce.  There are many brands of micro-planers in the market and as you can see from the picture, the one I bought was a Microplane which is probably one of the most expensive I have seen.  However, it is significantly better than the old one that I had. It grates the garlic and ginger very finely which I require for both dipping and chilli sauce.

Above is the dish with the accompanying sauces on the side.