Further experimentation: pork & tofu

[serenissima]

I used the slow cooker for the second time last Thursday, to make a chicken curry. I've made curry a few times before, with various vegetables and varying degrees of success. The new thing this time was to use an entire can of chicken broth plus a can of coconut milk. I was going for the rich creamy taste of my uncle's curry, and I thought that came from the coconut milk he uses, but somehow I couldn't taste it in mine, so next time I might as well leave that out. Otherwise, it was very good; the chicken was very tender from simmering all day. I wanted it non-spicy and didn't use any pepper, but I did use a lot of minced ginger, more than I ever remember using for anything, and that gave it a pleasant zing.

Last night I attempted a new dish: I tried to make mapo tofu. We'd been kind of wanting to make this ever since seeing the "Cooking Master Boy" episode about it a few years back, and then on our recent trip to visit my relatives, we ordered a similar dish at a Chinese restaurant and were very pleased with it.

I used as my references three recipes linked from the Wikipedia article, but I knew I wanted to change things a little, and my result was so different I don't think I can properly call it by the same name.

First of all, my Internet references describe this dish as being extremely spicy with Szechuan peppercorns (which apparently are completely different both from black pepper and from chile peppers). I can't tolerate very spicy foods, and when I've had mapo tofu in restaurants it has never been too spicy for me. Besides, I have no idea where to get Szechuan peppercorns or the paste made from them. So I planned to tone down the spiciness and substitute red pepper flakes and black pepper, which I had on hand. I also decided to include some onion and mushrooms, neither of which are mentioned in the recipes, as well as some herbs. Finally, the recipes call for at least twice as much tofu as meat. I had already bought 1.1 lb of ground pork and one 14 oz. block of tofu before realizing this, and I chose not to go back to the grocery store for more tofu, especially considering that my housemate isn't as fond of the stuff as I am. I think the mushrooms played an analogous role anyway.

My ingredients were:
- 1.11 lb. ground pork
- 14 oz. tofu, cut into forkful-sized pieces
- 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, chopped coarsely
- half a small onion, chopped finely
- five stalks of scallions, chopped, with the firmer pale part separated from the softer green part
- fresh cilantro, chopped, about a palmful
- a piece of fresh ginger root a little larger than my thumb, peeled and minced
- minced garlic (from a jar), around 3 tbsp.
- soy sauce, 2.5 tbsp.
- mirin, 5 tsp.
- sesame oil, 2 tsp.
- ground black pepper, 1 tsp.
- dried basil, about 1 tsp.
- black bean sauce, about 2 tsp.
- crushed red pepper flakes, maybe not quite 2 tsp.
- cooking oil (canola, I think), enough to coat the wok

What I did:
1. Combined mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper, and basil in a bowl for marinating. Put ground pork on top to soak it up while I chopped everything else, which took at least half a hour.
2. Heated the wok first, then put the cooking oil in the hot wok, as per advice on how to use our new stainless steel cookware (not nonstick!).
3. Shook in crushed red pepper flakes -- which quickly got burnt. Lowered the flame to medium; added ginger, garlic and onion; let brown for about half a minute.
4. Put in marinated pork. Realized I forgot about black bean sauce; added that on top. Stirred until mostly cooked.
5. Lowered flame to low. Put in tofu, mushrooms, and pale parts of scallions. Stirred, then covered and let simmer for about five minutes.
6. Verified that the meat was cooked through but the mushrooms were not. Added cilantro and green parts of scallions. Stirred; let simmer another minute or two.

Conclusions:
Hardly spicy at all: I was far too cautious with both kinds of pepper. Could stand to be saltier, too: next time, more black bean sauce, and maybe a little more soy sauce. Nevertheless, very tasty! aristeros even said he didn't mind eating the tofu, because it "didn't have that tofu flavor." Definitely something to try again soon.

Comments

[breimh.livejournal.com]

Just fyi for future reference:

Creaminess in curry can (and often does) come from the coconut milk, but it tends to only need a short time cooking and mixing in. Also cardamon helps with the flavor of creaminess, too. You might try adding the coconut milk closer to the time you serve the dish, and add a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. of cardamon, as well.