Mapo Tofu

I did it! I made an Asian dish and Sijia even liked it! It's a dish she makes often but I decided to try my hand at it last night and it was a success! I had to make it from scratch because I couldn't find the packet of seasoning I needed to cheat (turns out winco doesn't have all things Asian as I had hoped)but even though I had to make it from scratch it still worked. I found the simplest recipe I could to use and 30 minutes of cooking later I had mapo tofu (a pork and tofu dish). Anyway the hardest part really was finding the ingredients (black bean sauce is hard to find). If you want to try this awesome dish here is the recipe:

Mapo tofu:
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
1 pound firm tofu
1 pound ground pork
Marinade:
3 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
Other:
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons oil for stir-frying
1/4-1/2 teaspoon chile paste
2 tablespoons black bean sauce
Szechuan peppercorn or ground coriander.

Preparation:

1. Drain the tofu and cut into cubes. Marinate the ground pork in the soy sauce and cornstarch for 20 minutes.

2. Peel and finely chop the garlic.

3. Heat the pan over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the chile paste and the chopped garlic. Stir-fry until aromatic (about 30 seconds). Add the ground pork. Stir-fry until the pork is nearly cooked through.

4. Lower the heat to medium, and add the black bean sauce and the tofu cubes. Cook over medium heat until the tofu is browned (8 to 10 minutes). Just before serving, sprinkle with the Szechuan peppercorn or ground coriander.

5. Serve with rice if wanted