Vegetarian mapo tofu with mushrooms and fragrant rice

Method

1. Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold water until the water runs clear, then put in the saucepan with 275 g water. Bring to the boil, cover and cook over the lowest heat for 12 minutes, then rest off the heat for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. At the same time, cover the shiitake with 255 g very hot water in a bowl and leave to soak for 15 minutes, and heat 1 litre water in a second saucepan for the tofu.
2. Meanwhile, discard the black seeds from the Sichuan pepper, put the husks in the cold wok and bring to a medium heat. Dry-toast for about 1 minute, stirring, until lightly smoking and fragrant. Tip onto a plate, reserve 1 g whole husks (½ tsp), then grind the rest finely in a mortar and sieve to remove woody fragments. Peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger; thinly slice the spring onions, keeping the white parts in one bowl and the green parts in another. Crumble the dried chillies between your fingers. Chop the button mushrooms with a knife into roughly 5 mm dice.
3. When the shiitake are soft, lift out, squeezing over the bowl, and chop as for the fresh mushrooms. Slowly pour the soaking liquid through a fine sieve, leaving the sediment at the bottom of the bowl: you should have about 220 g; top up with a little water if needed. Cut the tofu into 2 cm cubes. Mix the cornflour with 30 g cold water.
4. Salt the water in the second saucepan with the measured salt and keep at a gentle simmer. Slide in the tofu cubes and leave for 2 minutes without stirring: the surface firms up, the beany flavour fades and the tofu heats through. Lift out with a slotted spoon and leave to drain in the sieve.
5. Wipe the wok clean and heat over a high heat with 20 g oil. Stir-fry all the mushrooms for 7–8 minutes without stirring constantly: first they release water, which boils, then it evaporates and the diced mushrooms sizzle and brown at the edges. Set aside on a plate.
6. Reduce to a medium heat, pour in the remaining 30 g oil and infuse with the whole Sichuan pepper husks for 30 seconds, then remove them with a slotted spoon. Add the doubanjiang and stir in the oil for 1 minute: the oil turns bright red and the paste smells fragrant without blackening. Add the garlic, ginger and crumbled chillies and stir for 30 seconds. Deglaze with the white wine, scraping the base, for 20 seconds.
7. Return the mushrooms, pour in the 220 g strained liquid, soya sauce and sugar, and bring to a simmer. Taste the sauce: it should be distinctly salty and spicy, as the tofu and rice are not; if necessary, adjust with 1 tsp soya sauce or 1 tsp doubanjiang. Add the drained tofu and spring onion whites and simmer over a low heat for 3 minutes, gently pushing the sauce over the cubes with the back of the spatula without turning them.
8. Stir the cornflour slurry and pour it around the edges of the wok in three additions, waiting 20 seconds between each and gently pushing the sauce with the spatula. Stop as soon as the sauce coats the cubes, looks glossy and leaves a coating on the spatula: too much cornflour would make it gelatinous. If still runny after 2 minutes, add another 1 tsp cornflour mixed with a little cold water.
9. Off the heat, scatter over the spring onion greens and all the ground Sichuan pepper, then drizzle the top with 1 tsp red oil taken from the edge of the wok. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve the tofu in two deep bowls, with the rice alongside, to balance each mouthful of sauce.