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Mapo tofu () is a popular Chinese cuisine from Sichuan province. It consists of tofu set in a spicy sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, based on Doubanjiang (fermented broad bean and chili paste), and douchi (fermented black beans), along with minced meat, traditionally beef. Variations exist with other ingredients such as water chestnuts, , other vegetables, or wood ear fungus. It is likely to have originated at a Chengdu restaurant in the 1860s–1870s.
Historical records tie the history of mapo tofu to Chen Mapo restaurant in Chengdu. It was opened in 1862 or 1874 as a Fanpu eatery named ChenXingSheng by a couple named Chen, near a popular Wanfu bridge. According to Li Jieren, the initial version created by Mrs. Chen, was nicknamed "Chen Mapo", which was a simple dish, made with chili, pork, tofu, and Sichuan pepper. In 1920s, Chen Mapo hired a chef named Xue Xiangshun, who transformed the eatery into a restaurant and perfected the mapo tofu recipe by cooking with beef instead of pork and adding douchi.
The first written and published recipe for mapo tofu was included in “中国名菜谱”, a 1950s document by the Food, Beverage, and Hospitality Bureau cataloguing recipes found throughout the country. It did not include Pixian Doubanjiang or Sichuan chili bean paste, relying only on douchi. A documentary named Chugoku No Shoku Bunka from the 1980s shows a Chen Mapo restaurant version of mapo tofu that doesn't use doubanjiang or chili bean paste either.
According to Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook: "Eugene Wu, the Librarian of the Harvard Yenching Library, grew up in Chengdu and claims that as a schoolboy he used to eat Pock-Marked Ma's Bean Curd or mapo doufu, at a restaurant run by the original Pock-Marked Ma herself. One ordered by weight, specifying how many grams of bean curd and meat, and the serving would be weighed out and cooked as the diner watched. It arrived at the table fresh, fragrant, and so spicy hot, or la, that it actually caused sweat to break out." Schrecker, Ellen with Shrecker, John. Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook. New York, Harper & Row, 1976. p. 220.
In Japan, the dish was introduced and popularized by the Chinese-Japanese chef Chen Kenmin. His son, Chen Kenichi, made it more popular as it was one of his trademark dishes on the television program Iron Chef.
The most important and necessary ingredients in the dish that give it the distinctive flavour are chili broad bean paste (salty bean paste) from Sichuan's Pixian county (郫县豆瓣酱), fermented black beans, chili oil, chili flakes, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, ginger, and scallion. Supplementary ingredients include water or stock, sugar (depending on the saltiness of the bean paste brand used), and starch (if it is desired to thicken the sauce).
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