Eggplant Mapo Tofu. Make a trip to the Asian market and make one of your favorite Chinese food dishes at home!
I’ve been cooking a lot and trying new things and you can tell if I’ve had a productive day by the amount of dirty dishes in my sink. And if we are all (kids included) able to actually eat what I’ve made for dinner, it’s a double win.
One of my favorite things to do as a food blogger and recipe developer is to go to the grocery store or farmers’ market. I love walking around trying samples and seeing what’s in season. What better way to discover new ingredients and vegetables? I especially love visiting the Asian market to see what new ingredients I can get my hands on and test in the kitchen.
I set out to explore the Asian market one day in search of the perfect ingredients to play around with in the kitchen. Even I get a little overwhelmed sometimes at the Asian market since there are so many brands as far as pantry items are concerned. How do you know which ones taste the best? That’s when some good old experimenting and testing come into play. Or, if you are following a recipe, simply ask for some help! The people at my local Asian market are always quick to help and offer lots of suggestions as well.
Mapo Tofu is one of our favorite Chinese food dishes. It’s the dish that we always order when we go out and the spicier, the better. In fact, my husband doesn’t even want to eat it unless it has a certain degree of spiciness. Now, as with many Asian food sauces, you’ll find a lot of popular sauces jarred or in ready-made packets. Sometimes, I enjoy using these but I always add things to make it my own.
We usually eat our Mapo Tofu with some kind of beef, but it’s summer and eggplant is in season. I actually used a combination of both regular eggplant and Chinese eggplant after picking both up at the Asian market. Chinese eggplant has a thinner skin, fewer seeds, and is a little less bitter with a more delicate flavor than regular eggplant. But I couldn’t resist cooking with both.
I used my trusty KitchenAid® 7-Ply Stainless Steel with Copper Core 10″ Skillet. This is my absolute favorite skillet (yes, I’ve said this before) and I use it all the time. The low, gently angled sides not only make stirring and flipping easier, but provide a larger surface area for quickly cooking, sautéing, and searing meats and vegetables.
With any Asian food dish, there are varying degrees of spiciness and preference. Play around with this recipe and add more or less heat and spice, depending on your taste and what you want. I hope you give this recipe a try! If you like eggplant and Chinese Mapo Tofu, you simply must!
I’m waiting for the day where I can just make one dish and we can all eat spicy food together. But that probably won’t be for a long time.
Eggplant Mapo Tofu
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 to 3 fresh cloves of garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 2 to 3 green onions finely diced (white and green parts)+ more for garnish
- 2 to 3 tablespoons spicy black bean paste or hot bean sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns ground
- 1/3 cup spicy bean sauce + more if needed as shown above
- 14 ounce container of silken tofu drained and cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup Chinese eggplant cubed
- 1/2 cup eggplant cubed
- Serve with cooked white or brown rice
Instructions
- Using a small mixing bowl, whisk together the chicken stock, cornstarch, soy sauce and sugar. Set aside.
- Using your skillet over medium high heat, add the sesame oil, garlic, ginger and green onions and cook until fragrant, for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the hot bean paste, ground Sichuan pepper and spicy bean sauce. Taste and adjust ingredients according to your taste. Continue sautéing for a few more minutes, or until heated through.
- Add the tofu and the eggplant and stir together gently so that the tofu and eggplant gets nicely coated with the sauce. Add more spicy bean sauce if needed.
- Whisk together the chicken stock mixture again and then pour it over the tofu and eggplant. Toss gently to coat, and let cook until the sauce thickens, for about 5 to 6 minutes. You can turn up the heat a bit if needed.
- Serve with white or brown rice and garnish with diced green onions.
And I’m using my new boards today! Food blogger friends: my husband had the brilliant idea of googling wood floor companies in the area to see if any had remnant pieces of reclaimed wood. And I scored big! Hooray!
I hope you try my Eggplant Mapo Tofu!
Disclosure: This is a paid, sponsored post in partnership with KitchenAid USA. All opinions expressed here are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting me in partnering with the brands and products that I use and love.
lady, this looks incredible. I haven’t had tofu in forever but I really want a big bowl right now.
Oh, yum! I adore Mapo Tofu, this looks spectacular!!
Kenny’s favorite dish in the world is Mapo Tofu. He orders it from every single Asian fusion restaurant we ever go to, extra extra crazy spicy. So you know that I’ll be making this for him! Yours looks so much better than the one he always orders. His is drowned in sauce, and yours has better balance.
Yep, we’re back to school in a week, but I’m back for pre-service week. I love the building before the kids get here. It’s so clean and quiet!
I’ve never actually ordered tofu out before, so I’m loving the looks of this eggplant version! It definitely sounds better than the take-out kind, Alice! I think I would devour this entire batch! Love it!
I love eggplant and tofu! when you made it mild for your children did you simply cut back on the spicy BB paste or something else? I was considering firm tofu or wld you recc. sticking with the silken?
Mare
Hi Mari, yes, that’s right! I simply used less hot bean paste and then removed a portion for them out of the pan and then finished it separately. You can absolutely use firm tofu!!! Let me know if you make this! I hope you do!
That looks delicious and love the skillet.
We have eggplants growing like crazy in our garden right now! I love the flavors in this recipe…I totally need to give it a shot! Plus, that skillet looks pretty darned awesome. Thanks for sharing!
I love the KitchenAid copper core skillets. This recipe is also perfect timing because I have plenty of fresh eggplants in my garden. Looks incredible!
The wood boards look excellent! Love love love. And so does the tofu. Man, there’s something about tofu in a spicy brown sauce that makes my heart go pitter patter.
I love Eggplant and Tofu, but together AND made spicy? Hand it over because I absolutely MUST stuff my face with this dish! This looks and sounds incredible, Alice. I haven’t had breakfast yet, but I’m thinking of scratching my normal egg white omelet and going to delicious town with this! The name eggplant mapo tofu alone makes me want to do a little happy dance 🙂 LOVE this. Pinned! Cheers, pretty lady!
This looks so sensational. Can’t wait for this!
Oh man, that sauce and that tofu, YES! Now I’m craving Chinese food for breakfast. Also, the boards look great, that’s one brilliant hubby you have there! 🙂
I can’t sit to try this, Alice. This dish looks killer.
I just started eating more tofu, so this is something I’m definitely going to have try!
LOVE then new boards Alice! Great idea. What a smart hubby you have. Now I want to do that too! I have never had Mapo Tofu before, and now it’s pretty much all I want in the world. Looks and sounds amazing!
This looks incredible, Alice! I love tofu and anything spicy and that sauce is just mouthwatering! Such a great idea to add eggplant! I wish I had this plate for lunch!
This tofu looks fantastic Alice! I need to try it! And your new wood board is very nice!
Lovely! Mapo tofu is sure a comforting dish. And that board…gorgeous!
I’ve never had eggplant and tofu together. But I am loving all the flavors in this recipe. I seriously need to try this!
I love meatless meals. I need more of them. Not sure if my son will eat this, but I am willing to try. He sometimes surprises in what he will taste. If not, more for me. 🙂
Hi Maggie! If your son can’t handle spicy, do what I did with my kids: I simply used less hot bean paste and then removed a portion for them out of the pan and then finished it separately. Let me know if you try it! Happy Monday and thanks for stopping by!
This tofu looks fabulous! I am slowly building up my spicy tolerance and I’m super excited to try this!!! And your husband is a genius! Such a good idea – and a gorgeous board too!
Wow! These pictures make me wanna dive in head first!! Love the flavor profiles here! BTW-I like your new board!!!
I LOVE kung pao tofu, and I’ve seen mapo tofu a million times and never ordered it for some reason! Gotta give it a try next time I do takeout, but before then, I’ll be making it myself 🙂
Alice – this just looks so darn good! I love spicy and thankfully so does my daughter so this would be perfect! Love the eggplant in this too!
Ugh, this morning was ROUGH. See, last week was back to school…but you know, not really. The kids just got to reunite with old friends and find their new desks. THIS week? Realty. Early mornings and homework. …. I have never wanted tofu so badly in my life. GORGEOUS.
Love your new background boards and LOVE this dish! Mapo tofu is a favorite of mine too 😉 And btw, my kids are now 6 & 8 and I’m STILL making more than one supper every night. :/
I am so going to be making this this weekend as Mapo Tofu is my husband’s favorite dish at P F Changs!! I tried a recipe sometime back which I found online but it called for 2-3 tbsp peppercorn and it tasted so so gross!! Yours look amazing! Can’t wait to try 🙂
Love the boards, and what a great idea your husband had to look for them like that! I’ll have to try that out in my area!
This looks so delicious, I only recently tried tofu for the first time and now I’m all about experimenting with it!
What lovely flavors Alice, I love it!!
This sounds so delicious! I’m so happy you shared an authentic mapo tofu recipe. I’ve never made my own!
I really love tofu and I always order it at a Chinese restaurant, but I have never cooked with it myself. Your recipe has convinced me to give it a try. It looks delicious and pretty simple too.
I seriously want a tutorial from moms in India or somewhere that has super spicy food on how to train kids for eating spice. Wouldn’t it be awesome to not have to worry about it?? I’m loving the looks of this tofu Alice!
Spicy and Chinese food are two of my favorite things ever! I think I could even get my carnivore husband to eat this!! Pinned!
Love the eggplant in this dish, must add so much flavor!
Ma Po Tofu is my go-to dish when I’m short on time. Love the addition of eggplant in yours!
Mmm… love and miss a good Mapo tofu. Yours looks incredible and love how you can adjust the spice level for kids!
Oh Alice! You read my mind – I have been craving mapo tofu for weeks now, but have yet to make it! Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this! It looks fantastic! Pinned of course.
I love love your new boards! I definitely need to try that trick! This is such a hearty meatless meal — that sauce looks unreal Alice!
This dish looks so pretty! I’m learning to like tofu more than I used to. We just smoked some and it was good! I’m sure with this sauce any tofu would be delicious! I love your new boards! Your husband is a smart and sweet man to do that for you!
I´m not a huge tofu fan and to be honest I haven´t tried it much easier. This recipe makes me want to try it again!! Sorry I´ve been quiet, I´m in SA visiting my Mom as she is very ill 🙁 Hope you´ve been well!
This looks delicious, Alice! Love the spicy flavours, so good! Need to try this soon! 😀
I do love eggplants, and I quite love tofu, but I’ve never combined them together. Looks and sounds like a perfect marriage! Delicious and hearty.
Oh my gosh Alice! This looks like my idea of heaven! I loooove tofu. I can’t believe I’ve never tried Mapo Tofu before. It sounds incredible, the photos are stunning too. I’m pinning this now so I can make it over the weekend. Wow!!! I’m so excited to try this! 😀
I can’t believe the kids go back so soon! Glad you are relaxing and enjoying this last week with them. This tofu looks amazing! The eggplant is a great addition. Also me likey the wood boards!! Beautiful pictures 🙂
What a fantastic looking dish and thanks for the tip on the boards! It is a never ending dilemma isn’t it? Trying to find new photo boards is a constant struggle! Everything looks delicious and fantastic!
I am slowly learning to love tofu, and this dish I KNOW that I would devour! Love that eggplant in there, pinned!
This looks delicious! I love mapo tofu but I’ve never tried an eggplant version. Extra spicy for me please 🙂 Also, I love the boards. What a totally genius idea to call wood floor companies in the area. I wonder if that would work around here..
Alice this looks so good!! Saving this for next weeks dinners 🙂 The sauce sounds easy and delicious
Yes please! This dish looks so yummy! It’s been too long since I last cooked with tofu 🙂
I’m always on the lookout for new tofu dishes! This will definitely be served to my family soon!
So I made this the other night and I had to tell you I LOVE IT!!! This is definitely one of my favorite recipes right now. Going to save it in my “staples” recipe book. So good, Alice! 😀