Dateline: May 27, 2020. Cooking with Lucas Sin

My friend, Servet, sent me a link to a YouTube video live cooking demo presented by the Asian Society featuring Lucas Sin and Matt Gross.  I have watched this video at least 3 times and enjoyed it each time.

According to Chef Sin, you can MaPo anything, so I made MaPo Dried Tofu Skin, as I had no soft tofu in the house.

The recipe is at the end of the video and it is a very interesting change up from my normal MaPo 

recipe and had tried another MaPo recipe about 2-3 weeks ago. 

I will say, that Chef Sin's is a really delicious version.

My suggestion when using tofu skin is a) break up the dried sticks in at least 1/2 size, b) soak in cold water for at least 1 hour, c) boil in salted water a la the soft tofu, d) cut into bite sized pieces before adding to the pan.

Before the peas

The pork was cooked separately.  He strongly suggested that unless you have the jet engine providing the heat to your wok, cook in a regular saute pan on the stove top.  

Once the pork or beef is crisped and thoroughly browned up, remove from the pan and hold to the side.  In this same pan the aromatics (chopped garlic, chopped ginger, sliced scallions, soaked and chopped fermented black beans), were then cooked in the rendered pork fat and when softened, add in doubanjiang, chicken stock, shaoxing, mirin, and dark soy.  Taste, if too salty, add a bit of sugar, mine tasted just right, salty, spicy, and full of umami. Next add in the boiled tofu skins cut into bite sized pieces and let them simmer in the sauce for a bit.  Add the fried ground pork and mix carefully.

I followed his direction to apply the cornstarch slurry in 3 additions.  As the sauce slowly tightened up, I then added some chopped chives and raw English peas, and stirred around some more.  I served over rice and got ready to really enjoy dinner.

Final dish

This was an extremely satisfying MaPo Tofu Skins.  I was completely sorry that I only used 1/2 lb ground pork.  I wish that I had doubled the recipe and used the entire pound.  Next time I will know that this is delicious and needs to be doubled up.  Damn, it was really good.  So sorry I had just made enough for 2 people.  Coupled with the margarita, it was a delightful dinner over Zoom with Servet.

It was spicy, but not blow your head off spicy.  It was salty, as most Chinese food is, but it was  balanced in a good way.  I would love to try this with soft tofu.  This version was excellent and will remain the rotation.  A big shout out to Chef Lucas Sin for sharing his recipe.