It’s Mapo Jim, but not as we know it…

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I made my crazy take on Mapo Tofu (sans Mapo and also sans Tofu) recently.  For those of you in the know, Mapo actually translates to ‘Grandmother’.  After a bit of thought I decided not to mince up the Wee Girl’s Mapo for this dish, instead I used some lovely F&B Lamb mince I had lurking in the chest freezer.

There was also a problem with the whole ‘tofu’ bit, as I didn’t have any of that either, just a couple of large eggplants languishing in the bottom of the fridge.  I started to have the inklings of a brilliant idea; Eggplant = squishy and subtly flavoured Vs Tofu = squishy and subtly flavoured!!  OMG I think this could work!!

I used Not Quite Nigella’s sauce base again, but doubled the quantities and made a few important tweaks, so I’ve posted my allnewimproved recipe for all you die-hard FBJ fans out there that wait for each of my recipes with bated breath… (You know who you are).

Essentially I fried up the eggplant with as much oil as I dared until it was squishy.  I then removed it from the wok and fried off the lamb mince.  I added the chilli bean paste mixture (forgot to finely dice the black beans - oops) and when it was fried off added the stock and cooked eggplant.

When I started cooking the rice I realised I’d forgotten to add some reconstituted shitake mushrooms to the dish so I threw a handful in the rice water to soften as the rice cooked (two birds, one stone).  It did make the rice an interesting beige colour but also imparted a lovely smoky flavour to the same.

I stirred through some toasted Szechuan pepper at the end and served with a flourish (and beige rice).

“What’s this?” asked Himself “Sizzling Eggplant Hotpot?”

“No, it’s Mapo Tofu with no tofu and no pork but with eggplant and lamb instead…”

“Is that the one with the crunchy bits?” the Wee Girl complained (she doesn’t like the crunchy Szechuan pepper action…)

“Yep!” I answered “I’ll grind it up next time.”

*sigh* “You said that last time” she huffed “and you’ll probably say that next time.”

“Shut up John, and eat your meal” (I love the crunchy Szechuan action – it adds an amazing, tongue numbing, woody note to the dish).

We then went on to discuss the Wee Girl’s upcoming birthday lunch where Chinese was vetoed due to an overwhelming number of Chinese dishes that week (two).  I think we’re going Italian – I can’t wait!