Name: Mabo Don
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1 package (1 lb.) firm tofu, cut in half lengthwise; 1 (2") piece ginger (about 0.8 oz.), peeled and minced; 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced; 3 scallions, white parts only (about 2" length), minced; 1 cup torigara stock; 2 Tbsp. sake; 1 Tbsp. soy sauce; 2 tsp. sugar; 2 Tbsp. Sendai miso or other aged, red miso; 2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil; 1 Tbsp. water; 1 Tbsp. katakuriko (potato starch); 1 Tbsp. Japanese rice vinegar; 8 oz. ground pork; 2 tsp. tobanjan; 6 cups cooked Japanese white rice; 1⁄4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves (optional); Sansho

Mabo don with tofu and cilantro in a cast iron skillet.

Photo by Todd Coleman

This Chinese-inspired donburi is huge in Japan—it’s a riff off that classic of Sichuan cooking, mapo tofu. The dish was introduced to Japan by a chef and Sichuan native named Chin Kenmin, who opened the first Sichuanese restaurant in Tokyo in the 1950s, and then popularized the cuisine on Japanese television. It wasn’t long before mabo tofu, as it’s known in Japan, became fodder for donburi. The Japanese version is cooked with tofu and ground pork, but in Japan it’s not served nearly as hot as it is in Sichuan. You can also garnish this dish with coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and a sprinkling of sansho, an intensely aromatic Japanese seasoning that’s related to Sichuan pepper.

This mabo don recipe calls for torigara stock, the Japanese-style chicken stock that is made with chicken bones and water to create a pure chicken essence; no roots (carrots, parsnips, etc.) or herbs are added. You can make torigara from scratch or use a premade base, which is sold as weiha in Japanese markets. To prepare premade torigara, mix 1 teaspoon soup base per one cup of water. If you cannot find the torigara base, though, substitute with low-sodium or unsalted store-bought packages of all-natural chicken stock.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘Japanese Soul Cooking’ by Tadashi Ono. Buy the full book on Amazon.