This is NOT traditional. It isn’t even made with purely Chinese ingredients. I didn’t use soft tofu, minced pork / beef or fermented broad bean paste! But the tofu DOES simmer in a thick, deeply favoured sauce! Enjoy it with organic brown rice and a cooling cucumber salad!
This is an adaptation of David Tanis’ Vegan Mapo Tofu from New York Times cooking. I changed a few key ingredients. Rather than spicy fermented broad bean paste, I added my homemade gochujang paste, a homemade Korean chilli paste made without fermentation; you can use any chilli paste that adds spice and umami. Instead of fermented black beans, I used chickpea miso paste. I encourage you to experiment. I looked for two ingredients that would provide deep umami and spicy flavour that complemented each other. Try what appeals to you!
Mapo tofu is meant to be spicy but leave out the chilli if you don’t enjoy it and you will still have a very flavourful dish.
Mapo Tofu
Ingredients
4 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in 2 cups filtered water overnight
1/2 block of homemade fava bean tofu
1 zucchini, ends trimmed, peeled and chopped
3 dried red hot chillies (optional)
1 tbs chickpea miso paste
1 1/2 tbs gochujang paste (see next, 14 January 2026, post for recipe)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 inch knob og ginger, peeled and sliced
1/2 red onion, peeled and chopped
1 tbs No fish sauce (or Redboat/Son fish sauce)
1 tbs coconut aminos
1 tsp toasted sesame seed oil
1 tsp sichuan pepper corns, pounded in mort and pestle
1 tbs tapioca or potato starch dissolved in 3 tbs filtered, cold water
green onions and cilantro, finely chopped (for topping)
Method
The night before you want to make this wash and soak 4 medium to large dried shiitake mushrooms in a ceramic or glass bowl.
Cut up the tofu in cubes and place in a bowl. Pour boiling water over the tofu with several pinches of salt and let it sit for fifteen minutes.
Place the ginger and tofu in a mort and pestle and pound in to a paste. Peel and chop the onion. Take the shiitake mushrooms from the soaking water (saving the water for later), cup off the thick stems, discard and thinly slice the mushrooms.Trim the zucchini, peel and chop.
Gently drain the tofu.
Heat up a non-stick, ceramic wok and add the chilli, miso end gochujang pastes and onion. Cover and allow to cook until the onions soften, about 5-10 minutes.
Pound the sichuan peppers in a mort and pestle. Finely chop cilantro and thinly slice the green onions. Make a tapioca slurry by mixing the tapioca flour and water in a small bowl. Set aside.
To the wok, add the garlic/ginger paste, No fish sauce (or fish sauce), coconut aminos, soaking water from the mushrooms and sesame oil. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover, lower the heat and gently simmer. Add the tofu, mushrooms, zucchini, pounded sichuan pepper and slowly add in the tapioca slurry. Stir gently trying not to break up the tofu. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Serve topped with sliced green onions and cilantro alongside brown rice and a refreshing bowl of leafy green or cucumber salad!
Store any left overs in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
