Pock-marked Mother Chen's bean curd (Ma po dou fu) from Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking (page 313) by Fuchsia Dunlop

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Ingredients

Szechuan pepper
Dried berries of Xanthoxylum species plants. Although there is a Xanthoxylum fagara, it is native to Florida and Caribbean, and not used in Chinese cuisine. Buy Now
- The Spice House - United States
bean curd
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Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

ldyndiuk on March 08, 2026

A well-loved dish at my house! I use pork instead of beef because the first time my husband and I ever had this dish (in Hong Kong), they used pork. I don’t have the chile powder or fermented black beans, but it’s still delicious without. I’ve always used regular leeks and eventually realized the intention is Chinese leeks, which are different, or just use scallions. But I like it with leeks, so I’ve kept that.
Rradishes on September 18, 2017

Great flavor. Was a little salty, I might have put too much chili bean paste, but I put some more sugar in and it was great. Next time I'll up the Sichuan pepper too. Great recipe overall, will make again
clcorbi on January 04, 2017

Delicious! Ma po tofu is one of my favorite dishes, period, so I was very excited to try this version. I used 1.5t of the optional Szechuan chili powder (although I used red pepper flakes which I believe is the substitute she provides) and this was SPICY, just the way we like it. I could probably go all the way up to 2t next time. We did not have baby leeks and so used regular ones, but I'm sort of unsure if that's what we were meant to use--in the instructions, Dunlop says "baby leeks or scallions," and I think scallions would have made more sense in this dish. The leeks, sliced as instructed into 1/2" rounds, were obviously still quite large. With scallions (and, presumably, baby leeks), you wouldn't have that issue. I chopped the leeks down further so that we would not have to eat huge rings of them at a time, but next time would probably go with my gut and use a handful of scallions cut into rounds. Other than that, this recipe is perfect.
Breadcrumbs on September 23, 2015

I've been making this FD version of Ma Po Dou Fu for years and it is still my "go-to" Just adding a link to my recipe notes, impressions posted on Chowhound since they won't fit here and in case they are of use to anyone: http://www.chowhound.com/post/dunlop-march-cookbooks-month-vegetables-bean-curd-494666?commentId=7292870#7292870. If the link doesn't go to my exact notes due to a CH update issue where only a portion of the posts are displayed you will need to scroll to the bottom of the page and "view all" so all posts in the thread display. Hopefully CH fixes this issue. Photo here: http://www.chowhound.com/post/dunlop-march-cookbooks-month-vegetables-bean-curd-494666?commentId=9730903#9730903
chawkins on April 24, 2014

Absolutely delicious even though it is quite different from most other ma-po tofu recipes. Most recipes use ground pork and do not include fermented black bean. My block of tofu was 20 oz, so I increased everything a little bit according. I used ground pork and leek and did not use the optional Szechuan chili powder. The recipe calls for 4 baby leeks or 2 leeks, I have never seen baby leeks anywhere so I just bought regular leeks. I sliced one leek and got over two cups, so I stopped at that. I stir-fried the leeks by themselves for a bit to soften them first and added them back at the end as directed. FD was right to tell you to add the slurry in two goes, I only needed about half of the slurry made.
stockholm28 on January 27, 2014

Delicious. I cut the recipe in half and it made two decent servings with rice. I used about half the amount of optional ground chiles. I used extra firm tofu.
Delys77 on February 08, 2013

Pg. 313 This was excellent. I have often seen this on menu's but have not ordered since I am not always partial to tofu. I thought I would give this a try as a I had read good reviews of Dunlop's version. I went a 1.5 X batch as I had more tofu than required and it probably served 4-5 good sized portions along with rice and a vegetable side. I used the beef as suggested and it was great, but pork would likely be very good as well. The best part of the dish is the complex layer of flavours that is very savoury, a little umami, without any sweetness. I usually like the balance of sour, sweet, salty, and bitter that you find in many chinese dishes, this one was missing a few of those notes which made it very different, but all the better for it. The savoury nature of this dish is excellent with the chilli bean paste and the black beans adding a lot of complexity. I found that it did need the ground chillies but next time I'll use chilli oil for its even heat.
mirage on January 16, 2010

Excellent!