Chili Tofu Rice: A Lunchtime Integration Initiative


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Tofu rice! Douhuafan is practically a lifestyle in south Sichuan, but it’s one of those things that’s a bit hard to translate to a recipe, …

46 replies
  1. Chinese Cooking Demystified
    Chinese Cooking Demystified says:

    Hey guys, a few notes:

    1. I usually try to have some sourcing notes inside the description box recipe, but unfortunately I was hitting the character limit there. MSG is available at most supermarkets under the brand name “Accent”. The Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp that we used in the first recipe is this one: https://bit.ly/3g85Mx1 and the Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil with Black Bean is this one: https://bit.ly/3HuWhEp . For the red oil chili bean paste, this is the product we’re referring to: https://bit.ly/3rdwB9v . Specific products that we link here have a tendency to sell out at times – all of these products are also available on Amazon and at the Mala Market. For the Thai Prik Bon, this was available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3rbYheK If you’re ok with an extra spicy toasted chili oil, you could also simply use this product to make the Toasted Chili Oil dip from the first recipe.

    2. So really, as Steph said in the outro, there’s basically as many douhua dipping sauces as there are douhua restaurants. That said, the three dipping sauces that we made here would be more on the simpler end of the spectrum – for more complex versions, do check out our older video for a Luzhou style as well as Wang Gang’s for a Fushun style.

    3. You can do the salt water soak twenty minutes before eating, or you could alternatively start the salt water soak in the morning and leave it soaking until lunchtime – there’s not too much of an upper limit there (24 hours, perhaps?). We were split on which way to show in the video.

    4. The purpose of adding more hot water in right before eating was to heat up the tofu. At douhua restaurants in Sichuan, the douhua is steaming hot when you get it. With the extra hot water, the tofu will at least be warm. You can also nuke tofu, but it has a tendency to get a bit crumbly – just don’t push it.

    5. When you’re toasting your chili flakes for the toasted chili oil, the exact timing will depend on how fresh your dried chilis are. If your chilis have been sitting around the supply chain for god knows how long… don’t push it, as you can easily scorch the chilis. While more deeply toasted chilis are definitely a bit more fragrant, making sure that they’re brittle enough to pound is the more critical bit.

    I’m about to Zoom with my parents, so the notes’ve gotta stop here for now. I’ll edit some more in later. We’re driving over to Steph’s parent’s place in Zhaoqing for Spring Festival today, so apologies if I’m slow in editing more notes in/slow to get back to you guys 🙂 Happy Spring Festival!

    Reply
  2. Shinocx
    Shinocx says:

    Sometimes
    A bowl of EGGYS and LAO GAN MA (*BING CHILING IN THE BACKGROUND*) and some rice can really make someone happy
    At least until their asian parents roll around

    Reply
  3. Megan Kay
    Megan Kay says:

    Hi Chris and Stephanie, I know this probably gets asked quite a bit, but are you two planning to ever publish a cookbook in the future featuring the recipes from this channel?

    Reply
  4. Bernd
    Bernd says:

    A small note: Something not mentioned in the video that I just found out while trying this recipe. If you sub the LaoGanMa instead making your own, (like me) you don’t need to add any salt or msg. There is already plenty in the jarred stuff, so between that and the soy sauce there’s plenty there. I made the sauce a second time with no added msg or salt, and a large tblspoon of LaoGanMa and it was plenty seasoned. This receptor was delicious. Super simple, and a great excuse to eat some tofu and vegetables.

    Reply
  5. TELECAMPER
    TELECAMPER says:

    I got into cooking when i was 9/10 years old because of i fell in love with “chinese” restaurant food here in italy (seams strange right?) and now i am discovering so much about the whole cousine…thank you guys !!!

    Reply
  6. David H
    David H says:

    Curious why the oil needs to be brought to its smoke point since that’s typically where you start converting the natural fatty acids in the oil to trans fats.

    Reply
  7. Anthony R
    Anthony R says:

    Made it with dip/veggie combo #1 and it was… Just kinda meh. I usually love tofu and chili sauces, but this was pretty mid. Does making your own oil make a gigantic difference?

    Reply

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