"This is my current favourite dish. I say current because my favourites change every week, as the weather gets colder. This I would classify as an Autumn dish, but I'm desperately hanging onto it until I have no choice but to turn to Beijing hotpot. Anyway, it's called 'ma doufu (麻豆腐)', or numb tasting tofu. There are two main types of spicy in Chinese food, 'ma' and 'la', with 'ma' being a common characteristic of Sichuanese food. 'La' is the hot spice that we are used to in the West, while 'ma' numbs the mouth (too much 'ma' can totally ruin a meal).
So ma doufu is supposed to be mouth-numbing, but it isn't very - possibly because the stuff I eat is a watered down, Beijing version. Numbing or not, it's made from fermented soy beans, fried in mutton fat and then mashed with spices. It's then served, as you can see, with chillies and spring onions to garnish.
The consistency is like hummus and the taste is somewhat cheesy; the perfect comfort food. Like Marmite, it divides".
Julia Meek nous écrivait de Beijing
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