Mapo Tofu

Mapo tofu is cubes of soft tofu simmered in a red, oily sauce of fermented chilli bean paste and ground Sichuan pepper. It comes from Chengdu, in Sichuan, and is eaten with rice.

What it really is

Minced beef is fried dry, then doubanjiang — Sichuan's fermented broad bean and chilli paste — cooks in the oil until the fat runs red. Stock goes in, then the tofu, cubed and slid in whole. It simmers from there, nudged rather than stirred so the cubes hold, and is thickened with starch in two or three small additions. Ground Sichuan pepper goes over off the heat, spring onion last.

Málà is two sensations, not one. Là is the chilli heat of the paste; má is the cool, buzzing numbness of Sichuan pepper. Heat without the numbing is half the dish. The name is Chengdu's: má pó, the pockmarked woman said to have run the 19th-century shop where it was first sold.

How it is served

• Very hot, in a shallow bowl, with plain rice beside it.
• Spooned over the rice, not eaten alone.
• Beef is the Chengdu original; minced pork is the usual substitution.

How to write it on the menu

• Say it numbs as well as burns — Sichuan pepper surprises guests who have not met it.
• Name the meat, or say there is none: a meat-free version is easy and common.
• Tofu is soy, and most chilli bean pastes and soy sauces contain wheat.