Ma Po Tou Fu is Sichuan's well known characteristic dish. Tradition has it that during the Tongzhi years of Qing Dynasty, there is a small inn at the WanFu (Innumerable Blessings) bridge outside the north gate of Chengdu, Sichuan. The woman owner Chen is pretty good at cooking. She uses bean curd, tiny sliced beef, hot pepper, Chinese prickly ash, thick bean sauce and other ingredients to cook. The dish tastes hemp (a unique flavor from the Chinese prickly ash), spicy, fresh, fragrant, and it is delicious, it is extremely well received by the people around the town. At that time there was no official name for this dish. Because Chen has pockmarked face ("ma" face with "ma" happens to be the same character as the "ma" or "hemp" flavor from the Chinese prickly ash), people then started calling it "Ma Po To Fu". "Po" in this case means woman, wife. So to translate accurately it means "wife of pockmarked face Tou Fu". From then on it became well-known around the entire nation. It is now a world-renowned Chinese cuisine 100 years later. All the Sichuan restaurants must have this dish. Along with the development of Sichuan cuisine, most of the overseas Chinese restaurants (Sichuan style or not) all carry this famous dish. Not too long ago, the Japanese merchants even imitated Sichuan "Ma Po Tou Fu" and produced canned "Ma Po Tou Fu" which sell quite well around the world.
Characteristics of the dish: light yellow, tender with gloss, tastes hemp, spicy, fragrant, fresh, and hot. The surface of bean curd is covered with a layer of light red spicy oil, which keeps the heat inside the bean curd so it won't get quickly lost. It always tastes better when you eat it hot, the unique hemp smell comes from the Chinese prickly ash greets the nostrils and that enhances the overall flavor. It is considered the best delicacy for cold winter season.
Ingredients:
Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.
Jacklyn Chen - Webmaster of news-blogs.com. She is a full time mom who works very hard to make living with multiple web sites. For more information and articles about fine living, visit fine-living.news-blogs.com.
article_text... Read More
article_text... Read More
article_text... Read More
article_text... Read More
article_text... Read More
article_text... Read More
article_text... Read More
Summer may begin in June but, for many parts of the country, gardens don't reach their peak until August... Read More
Every autumn my thoughts turn to making chili... Read More
Home-made soups are so good for you - all that nourishing stock and chock-a-block full of vitamins and minerals... Read More
It certainly is a poor man or woman who cannot find a few eggs, a couple of potatoes and an onion in their store cupboard!The ever-practical Spaniard realized this and thus created their marvellous "tortilla" - an easy-to-make dish that could be savoured by rich and poor alike... Read More
The custom of grubbing for Earthnuts, or Pignuts is as ancient as mankind itself... Read More
Wild Watercress soup is a delicious and nutritious recipe with the leaves available in spring and early summer... Read More
Leave your tic-tacs at home... Read More