Recipe for My Mother’s Japanese-Type Mapo Tofu from ‘The Wok’

1 teaspoon (3 g) cornstarch

1 tablespoon (15 ml) chilly water

2 tablespoons (30 ml) peanut, rice bran, or different impartial oil

4 ounces (120 g) floor beef

2 teaspoons (5 g) minced garlic (about 2 medium cloves)

2 teaspoons (5 g) minced contemporary ginger (about ½-inch section)

2 scallions, chopped into ¼-inch items, darkish greens reserved for garnish

2 tablespoons (30 ml) sake

2 tablespoons (30 ml) mirin

1 tablespoon (15 ml) shoyu or mild soy sauce

¼ cup (60 ml) low-sodium hen inventory, dashi, or water

1½ kilos medium to agency silken tofu, lower into ½-inch cubes

Steamed rice and chili oil, for serving

Mix the cornstarch and chilly water in a small bowl and blend with a fork till homogenous. Put aside.

Warmth the oil in a wok over excessive warmth till smoking. Add the meat and prepare dinner, stirring consistently for 1 minute. Add the garlic, ginger, and scallion whites and pale greens and prepare dinner, stirring, till aromatic, about 15 seconds. Add the sake, mirin, soy sauce, and hen inventory and convey to a boil. Pour within the cornstarch combination and prepare dinner for 30 seconds, till thickened. Add the tofu and punctiliously fold it in, being cautious to not break it up an excessive amount of. Switch instantly to a serving bowl and sprinkle with the scallion greens. Serve instantly with rice and chili oil.

Excerpted from “The Wok: Recipes and Methods” (copyright) 2022 by J. Kenji López-Alt. Reproduced by permission of W.W. Norton. All rights reserved.