Mabo-doufu or Spicy Beef and Tofu on Rice

As always, I am cooking with minimum ingredients so this is my version of mabo-doufu, or spicy beef and tofu. Often recipes include sake, and chicken stock. It's eaten hot, served on steaming rice. This is a Chinese-Szechuan dish, very popular in Japan. This looks to be quite high in fat - I wasn't sure how lean my beef was, although I chose a pack that looked lean, for the nutrition data I probably overestimated the fat content, calling it 75% lean meat, 25% fat.

Nutrition Data (per serving, including rice)
Calories: 658
Protein: 33g
Fat: 34g
Carbohydrate: 66g
Dietary Fibre: 6g

Ingredients (serves 2)
1 tsp olive oil
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 spring onions, snipped (reserve 2 teaspoons of green top for a garnish)
2 heaped teaspoon of spicy bean paste (toubanjan）/you could probably use a mixture of chilli flakes and sauce
200g minced beef/ you could use pork or TVP
2 heaped teaspoons red miso
300g of silken tofu, chopped into chunks
2 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce
100ml water
2 tsp of cornflour or potato starch mixed with a little water
400g cooked brown rice to serve


Method

• Cook the rice according to instructions.
• Put the olive oil in a small pan, with the garlic and spring onions. Fry over a low heat for about 2 minutes, add the ginger paste and spicy bean paste and fry for another minute until thick.
  
• Add the ground beef and fry until it changes colour. The beef will quickly produce more fat for frying. Stir in the miso paste.
• Stir in the water, soy sauce and tofu being careful not to break the tofu too much; cover and cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.
• Stir in the cornflour paste and heat for about a minute more until thickened slightly.
• Put the hot cooked rice into bowls, and top with the mabo-doufu. Sprinkle with the reserved spring onion tops.
• Serve immediately.