Wednesday, June 02, 2010

mascot

Recently, I picked up the Szechuan sauce by Mascot. Unlike the curry paste, this sauce is not vegetarian.

To make the sauce you dilute the contents with 2 cups of water.

The directions on the bottle state for mabo tofu that you saute some minced pork, add the sauce and dilute with 2 cups of water.

Instead, I left out the meat, diluted the contents and added a couple of handfuls of chopped green onions, so it was more like a soup.

Then for one of our dinners, I sauteed some veggies in sesame oil.

Added some oboro tofu. (Oboro tofu is a very soft tofu which when made is not set in cheesecloth. It is quite creamy, and the texture like a custard.)

Since the tofu was so soft, it sort of melted when I combined it with the veggies.

I then added half of the diluted sauce. The "melted" tofu kind of thickened up the sauce.

This was nice, spicy and good on rice.

With the other half of the sauce, I sauteed some minced pork, carrots and onions and added some bi-fun (rice flour noodles) and green onions.

I actually should have used harusame (cellophane noodles) which would have replicated a dish I've picked up at the market.

Still, this version was delicious.

I would definitely use this sauce again.

7 comments:

jalna said...

Yumm!!

Deb in Hawaii said...

Looks like a couple of easy and delicious meals--a handy sauce to have in the pantry. ;-)

K and S said...

Yum it was Jalna :)

Thanks Debinhawaii, definitely a keeper for the pantry ;)

Take care you two.
Kat

KirkK said...

Love those sauces Kat! Was this one on the sweet side? I've found that Japanese Ma Po Tofu tends to be very light on the heat, and on the sweet side.

Unknown said...

The noodles look delicious!

Rowena said...

Yummy! I never even knew about mabo or oboru tofu -- how many types are there? Back in Hawaii I only ever saw soft or firm types...sure miss eating tofu.

K and S said...

Actually this one was quite salty Kirk, I think I may have to dilute it a little more the next time :)

Thanks Rick :)

Mabo is a style of cooking tofu Rowena, mostly seen in Chinese (not sure if authentic Chinese). Oboro is something I didn't know about, apparently it has been around for a long time :) You should investigate how to make tofu, I hear it is quite easy. Soy milk, nigari (a bitter agent : magnesium chloride) and that is it.

Take care everyone.
Kat