I made Chef Chu's Ma Po Tofu at Home

Chef Chu's is a white tablecloth Chinese restaurant located in Los Altos, CA. One year, I received the Chef Larry Chu's cookbook for Christmas:

One of my favorite Chinese dishes is Ma Po Tofu. I found the recipe for Ma Po Tofu in the cookbook. First you start out by cooking some ground pork:

After the pork is slightly brown, I added some chili paste and garlic:

I let that cook for a couple of minutes, then I added the sauce. It consists of chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar, Chinese rice wine, and a little bit of salt.

I then added a block of tofu chopped into cubes. I let everything braise for 5 minutes. Afterwards, I turned off the heat and added some cornstarch to thicken the liquid into a nice tasty sauce:

 and sesame oil and chili oil for a little extra flavor:



the end resulted in a tasty and spicy Schezuanese China favorite: Ma Po Tofu!



Delicious Peruvian food in the East Bay

I ate lunch at my favorite Peruvian restaurant this afternoon. It's called El Chalan. It's located in the East Bay Area in a town called El Sobrante. El Sobrante is a couple of highway exits north of Richmond, CA on the Highway 80.

I got there in time for the lunch menu, so I was able to enjoy more things as lunch menu was reduced price.

I started out with a delicious Peruvian chicken soup. It hit the spot as it was pouring rain outside.

The restaurant also serves toasted bread with aji de rocoto salsa. Basically it's served as a side just like Mexican restaurants always serve chips and salsa. The aji salsa had a spicy (boy was it spicy), savory and mustardy with a hint of peanut flavor.



To drink, I had a Peruvian soda called "Inca Kola." It's a golden colored, cream flavored soda. It used to be a Peruvian owned brand until Coca Cola bought them out.

My appetizer was my favorite dish at the restaurant. It's called "Papa Rellena" which translates to "stuffed potato." Basically it's a Peruvian version of Shephards Pie with the mash potato wrapped around the ground beef filling and then pan fried until it's golden brown.





My entree was "Tallarin Saltado."  Tallarines are spaghetti noodles and "saltado" means it was cooked in a "sartén" which is a frying pan. So the dish basically means spaghetti noodles cooked in the frying pan. Basically meaning it was delicious!

Great place to eat! Location is pretty close by to Vallejo. It saves me from having to go into the City to get good Peruvian food.