Pockmarked Mother Chen's Beancurd

A new Oriental supermarket has opened up in Wood Green so we stocked up on ngredients to make this. I’ve wanted to make it for ages, partly because of its name but motly because I love fiery Sichuan food. Lowell had never heard of it, but caught up in the moment insisted we make it.

500g firm bean curd (Tofu)

4 spring onions

100ml ground nut oil

150g minced pork

2 ½ tbsp. Sichuan chilli bean paste

1 tbsp black fermented beans

2 tsp crushed chillies

250ml stock, with a little ginger grated in

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp light soy sauce

Salt to taste

3 tsp cornflour slaked in water

½ tsp Sichuan pepper, ground

The dish gets its awesome name from the smallpox scarred face of its Qing dynasty creator. You can use less oil, but it won’t be the same. You could also skip the dried crushed chillies and just get the heat from the Sichuan peppercorns. Make sure you buy a Chinese brand and crush them yourself. I use Pearl River Bridge Band for the fermented black beans (Yang Jiang preserved beans with ginger) and Lee Kum Kee for the Chilli bean paste (Toban Djan).

Cube the beancurd and leave it to steep in a bowl of just boiled water with a little salt in it. Slice the spring onion on the diagonal – the Sichuanese call this cut “horse ears”. Lowell is dry roasting the Sichuan peppercorns and crushing them in a mortar. We're listening to a CD of Chinese pop hits. The cover is all in Chinese except it has 13+1+1 on it! 

Add the oil to the wok and get it very hot. Be watchful as this is a lot of very hot oil! Add the mince pork, and get it brown and on the way to crispy. Annoying that you can’t actually buy minced pork in 150g portions and it doesn’t seem right to ask a butcher for such a small amount. We’ll think of something else to do with the rest tomorrow.

Turn the heat down and add the chilli bean paste, until the oil takes on the red colour. Add the fermented beans and ground chillies and stir fry for another minute.

Carefully pour in the stock and add the drained beancurd. Mix it very gently so it doesn’t break up. Season with the sugar, salt and soy. Simmer for 5 mins.

Gently stir in the spring onions and add the cornflour to get the sauce thick enough to cling to the beancurd and meat. You might not need all of it.

Decant into a serving bowl and scatter the ground peppercorns on top. Serve with plenty of rice as this is spicy. Lowell is hopeless with chopsticks which is in my favour. If he drops anything on his shirt it will have to come off and go straight in the wash to avoid dying it permanently red.