The Best Mapo Tofu Recipe 麻婆豆腐 by CiCi Li

Mapo Tofu is a traditional Sichuan dish. It has a numbing sensation when you eat it. It’s spicy, hot and savory. It’s definitely my kind of good eats!
According to legend, an elderly widow named Chen Qiaoqiao invented the dish. Ms. Chen’s face was scarred with pockmarks, so people started calling the dish Mapo Tofu, which literary means “pockmarked grandma’s bean curd.”
Ms. Chen’s story started as a tragedy. Her husband died of a disease and she became very poor. Her friends tried to help her and occasionally gave her some meat and tofu. She had always been an amazing cook so she created a brilliant dish with their donated ingredients: Mapo Tofu.
She first minced the meat, cut the tofu into cubes, and cooked them with a variety of Sichuan spices. All of her friends loved the dish and encouraged her to make a living off it. She eventually opened a small shop and sold Mapo Tofu.
The story has a happy ending, because her Mapo Tofu became famous through word of mouth! I now bring you the Mapo Tofu recipe. Please click here for the full written recipe:
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