I worked on this recipe for more than a dozen years until I finally achieved what I was looking for after first tasting the dish some 35 years ago at the original, tiny Hunan restaurant (Henry Chung's) in San Francisco. (They called it Bean Curd with Meat Sauce and added peas to it, and so do I.) It is not aiming for total authenticity, but it does contain the two Sichuan-specific ingredients without which the dish would not be Mapo Tofu: Pixian broad bean paste (douban jiang) and Sichuan peppercorn. Both ingredients are available online, though the broad bean paste -- and it should be from Pixian County, Sichuan -- takes a bit of digging. The ingredient list looks long, but after you've prepped and have everything ready to go, it only takes about 10 minutes to cook from start to finish. <br /> <br />The finished dish should feature a spicy, thick, gravy-like sauce and custardy tofu. (Use medium tofu for best results; avoid soft and extra-firm).

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