麻婆豆腐

Jan.22, 2005

I made 麻婆豆腐 for dinner.
This is very special that you cannot season like this in Japan! You wanna know why? Because I used special 豆板醤 which my Chinese friend gave me the other day.

Some of you may know that Toronto is one of the world's biggest multicultural cities. Especially, Chinese culture is dominating Western culture these days. There are huge Chinese communities here and so is a massive numbers of Chinese immigrants. Their momentum is just breathtaking. I mean, they have been immigrating on a household basis and creating Chinese communities very quickly.
Which is good for me, you know, when it comes to going grocery shopping. There are many Chinese super markets too that carry a variety of Asian produce. Isn't it amazing that you can buy sounds-familiar veggies in Canada. Such as Gobo, Daikon, Shiitake, Yamaimo, Hakusai and you name it.
Anyway,
Toronto is the best place to taste genuine Chinese food other than in China itself!!

The Chinese girlfriend of mine is very good at Sichuan (四川) style cooking. The 豆板醤 paste was what the good cook chose. I can't screw it up, can I??

麻婆豆腐を作りました。
チャイニーズの友達から貰った麻婆豆腐の素（中国ブランド！）で作ったので、かな～り本格派な味？！
…んー。
でもやっぱり見た目、“日本人が作りました”風なんちゃって麻婆豆腐の域を出ないのであった。。何がイカンのだぁ～！
以前、同じペーストで作った、友達の麻婆豆腐を食した事があるんだけど、
なんか全然違いましたょ。