Recipe: Mapa Tofu

It seems that things are calm for now but I'm still recovering since I felt rather traumatized this weekend. I knew (pseudo) parenting came with ups and downs but I don't think you can ever fully prepare for everything that happens.

Thank you for all your lovely comments yesterday and for being so supportive.

Lack of sleep finally caught up to me last night. I fell asleep around 8:45 PM and woke up around 5:45 am.

My boyfriend and brother seems to have moved on and life is normal for them. Their calmness and laughter makes me feel like such a worry-wart. I think that's just how I am though. I prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Today was my first official workout of the year! I jumped on the elliptical (reluctantly, I assure you) and managed to pump out 50 minutes! I did stretching and pilates in the morning.

I'm hoping to finish the night with some weighted hula-hooping and yoga.

I'm going to announce right now that I want to go for a run tomorrow morning. I'm going to go at a steady pace but I definitely want to get the first run of the year out of the way.

I haven't had much of an appetite recently so I haven't needed to eat an afternoon snack. I think it's probably due to the lack of exercise so my body isn't screaming to be refueled.

On Sunday, I really wasn't in the mood to make dinner so I made Mapo Tofu over rice for the boys. Mapo Tofu is a dish from the Szechuan province of China, which is notorious for their spicy dishes.

It's one of my boyfriend's favorite dishes. My uncle made fun of him this winter break because it's one of the standard dishes every Chinese home cook can make. 

You can buy Mapo Sauce in an Asian specialty store (maybe even in your Ethnic food aisle) but since I ran out, I made my own with condiments I had lying around.

The dish is normally made with ground pork but I opted to use ground turkey: 1. I had it and 2. it seemed healthier. This dish also traditionally uses Szechuan chili peppers but I just used red pepper flakes since it was in my pantry.

Mapo Tofu

Ingredients

1 tsp Fermented Black Beans

2 tsp Korean Red Pepper Paste (Gochujang)

2 tsp Granulated Sugar

1/4 tsp Five Spice Powder

1 tsp Soy Sauce

1/2 tsp Red Chili Flakes *optional **adjust to desired spice level

3 cloves Garlic (minced)

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

1 tsp Corn Starch

6 oz Ground Turkey

1 pkg. Silken Tofu

1/4 cup Scallions (thinly diced)

1. In a bowl, mix together black beans, red pepper paste, sugar, five spice powder, soy sauce, chili flakes, garlic and corn starch. 

2. Slowly add in chicken stock to make the sauce

3. Pre-heat a deep skillet on medium high heat

4. Spray with non-stick spray

5. Saute ground turkey for 3-4 minutes or until browned

6. Add pre-mixed sauce to turkey

7. Simmer for 1-2 minutes until the sauce has thickened from the corn starch 

8. Dice silken tofu into 1" pieces
9. Carefully fold tofu into skillet
10. Simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes until tofu is warmed through and absorbs flavor
11. Sprinkle the top with scallions
12. Serve over rice

Dinner is served and both boys loved it.