Mushroom Mapo Tofu

And my go to Mushroom XO butter recipe.

Served up in the pan it was cooked in.

Classic Mapo tofu is a popular Sichuan dish, typically cooked with ground pork which provides a rich savoury flavour. Here I’ve swapped out the pork for mushrooms, so obviously not a Classic Mapo Tofu, but still an absolute cracker!

I used Swiss browns for this which really work well with this. However, I also highly recommend Pine mushrooms, as they’re my all time favourite mushroom and one that can be foraged in many parts of Australia.

And very close second would be Lions Mane mushrooms, which I’ve been cooking a lot with recently. They’re renowned for their potential neuroprotective properties. They can enhance cognitive function and improve memory, (If like me you’re like a goldfish, thats a good thing!) But besides all that, they’re an absolutely delicious, really meaty, and full of flavour.

I like to slice thickly and cook just like a steak, in a little garlic, thyme and foaming butter. Here’s the recipe for Mushroom Mapo tofu below…

Lions Mane Mushrooms

Here’s a video

Serves 4/prep time 10mins/ cook time 10 mins/ Easy

Ingredients

200g Mushrooms

2 cloves garlic(grated)

2 green shallots(chopped)

1 large red chili (chopped)

1 knob of ginger(grated)

1 tsp Szechuan pepper (roasted and ground)

4 tbsp neutral oil (I used rice bran oil)

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp Oomite(or fermented black beans)

2 tsbp honey

3 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp chili paste

1 x 250g pack silken tofu

Method

Coriander, sesame and shallot for topping.

Chop the mushrooms, heat the rice bran oil in in a frying pan or wok until slightly smoking.

Fry the mushrooms until golden, reduce the heat, add sesame oil.

Add the Szechuan, garlic, chili, ginger, shallot mix. Gently fry until it develops a light brow. tinge. Add the Oomite (or black beans) honey, vinegar and soy.

Reduce a little. Mix the cornflour into 100 ml water, pour this in. It with thicken slightly. Remove from heat when right consistency. Add more chili if need be.

Dice the tofu and place into salted hot water to heat up.

Spoon the tofu into the sauce.

Top with coriander, sesame and shallots.

Mushroom Mapo served up in a bowl with a little rice on the side.

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XO mushrooms, mussels and greens, served with a little brown rice

Mushroom XO butter

Here’s another of my all time mushroom recipes, made into an XO butter. It has many uses and a great component to have up your sleeve. I often make it into logs and freeze it for when you need some spice in your life.

Try it: Folded through pasta, on a steak, over grilled fish or on-top of a wedge of roasted cabbage with a squeeze of lemon

Plus the recipe to a complete dish using the butter with Mussels, citrus and greens, fantastic for colder months. Feel free to use pipies, clams or prawns if mussels aren’t your thing.

Recipe