Pour boiling water over the dried soya mince in a saucepan and let it steep for 5-10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and squeeze out excess liquid.

Cut the tofu into cubes that are not too small. Blanch the tofu cubes in a pot of lightly boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes and carefully remove.

Finely chop the mushrooms, garlic & ginger. Grind Sichuan pepper.

Fry the soy mince in a large pan with a generous dash of oil over medium-high heat. As soon as it takes on some colour, add the mushrooms, ginger, garlic and Sichuan pepper. Also fry everything briefly. Add the chili bean paste and also fry briefly. Pour in 400 ml of water and season with soy sauce, fermented beans, sugar and sesame oil.

Add the tofu cubes and simmer for about 5 minutes so that the tofu can absorb the aroma. Don't stir vigorously, just gently push everything back and forth from here on. Mix the cornstarch with twice the amount of cold water until smooth and add. Let it boil for about 1 more minute.

Cut the spring onion into thin rings. Serve the Mapo Tofu sprinkled with it. The dish goes best with rice.