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I love Sichuan food, it’s most likely my favorite regional Chinese cooking.
I would eat out or pack Sichuan food or
noodles a few times a month.
Lucky for me, my neighborhood offers a few authentic Sichuan restaurants, operated and run by real Sichuan chefs, hailed from China.
I wouldn’t say that the taste rivals the real Sichuan fares found in China, but I really can’t complain much. They are as good and as authentic as it gets.
Sure, some dishes are adapted and watered down, but they still taste distinctly Sichuan, riling up and tingling my taste buds. I just love them!
One of the dishes I always order at my favorite Sichuan restaurant is a tofu dish called “jia chang dou fu” or 家常豆腐, or homestyle tofu.
In Chinese, the dish basically means the regular and simple tofu dish that you would always make at home, like the ones made by your mother or grandmother.
However, every family has their own version of “homestyle” tofu, for example, this recipe would be my version of homestyle tofu, made with tofu and mushroom.
Anyway, not to confuse you further, in the Sichuan restaurants here in the United States, homestyle tofu always means a spicy tofu dish with spicy bean sauce, some vegetables, chilies, meat, etc.
So, here is my spicy Sichuan tofu, the ones that I always get at Sichuan restaurants here.
This dish can be super spicy, especially if you eat out at authentic Sichuan restaurants which do not tone down their spicy level.
My spicy Sichuan tofu recipe has been toned down quite a bit…but still somewhat spicy, savory, and utterly delicious and appetizing, especially as a side dish to go with steamed rice.
A lot of people do not like to deep-fry foods in their kitchen, especially tofu, which tend to splatter a lot.
For this recipe, I bought fried tofu from Asian store. Try my Spicy Sichuan Tofu and enjoy!
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 212 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Spicy Sichuan Homestyle Tofu
Ingredients
- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 3 cloves garlic (sliced thinly)
- 6 oz. chicken breast, sliced into thin pieces
- 8 oz. fried tofu, cut into triangle shape
- 2 oz. carrot, sliced into thin pieces
- 4 oz. bamboo shoot, sliced into thin pieces
- 2 oz. red chilies, seeded and finely sliced
- 2 oz. scallion, trim and cut into 1-1/2 inch lengths
- 2 tablespoons oil
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoon Sichuan soy-bean paste with chili ("douban jiang")
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
Instructions
- Soak the mushrooms in warm water for 10 minutes or until softened. Remove the stems and cut the mushrooms into strips.
- Mix the Sauce ingredients in a big bowl and set aside.
- Heat up the wok with 2 tablespoon oil, put in garlic, stir fry until aromatic, then add the chicken, tofu, carrot, bamboo shoot and mushroom stir-fry for a couple of minutes.
- Add the Sauce and stir to combine well and stew for 5 minutes, on low heat. Stir in the red chilies and scallions, dish out and serve with steam rice.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Awesome recipe, Bee! We made a double-batch from the start. 4oz (1/4 lb) of red chilies seemed like a death wish, so we toned it down quite a bit, but otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. I thought it was great as is, but my wife added some Taiwanese mushroom seasoning to the batch for more umami and loved it. Thanks for your hard work!
Awesome recipe, Bee! We made a double-batch from the start. 4oz (1/4 lb) of red chilies seemed like a death wish, so we toned it down quite a bit, but otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. I thought it was great as is, but my wife added some Taiwanese mushroom seasoning to the batch for more umami and loved it. Thanks for your hard work!
Thanks for trying my recipe. :)
A lovely recipe. Thanks so much.
Looks delicious. I haven’t tried experimenting with sichuan soy bean paste yet, just the normal salted one (tauchu).