Chickpea mapo tofu

Place four dried shiitake mushrooms in a small saucepan with two and a half cups of water, cover and bring to a boil.

Finely chop the green onion. Rinse and drain the chickpeas and mash them with a fork to a crumbled texture.

Bring to a boil and cook on medium for another 10 minutes.

Drain the medium firm tofu and carefully slice it into bite-size cubes.

Pour out and reserve the mushroom water, cool the mushrooms in cold water, squeeze out the excess liquid, remove the stalks and finely chop them.

Finely chop the garlic and a small piece of ginger.

Toast two teaspoons of Sichuan peppercorns in a saute pan over medium heat for about a minute, then crush them in a pestle and mortar.

Return the saute pan to medium heat with three tablespoons of chili oil, the crumbled chickpeas and the shiitake mushrooms, and cook a couple of minutes.

Add the ginger and garlic and cook two to three minutes.

Add the optional cayenne, the doubanjiang and the toasted Sichuan peppercorns and stir well.

Add the reserved mushroom water, the cane sugar, the rice vinegar, the soy sauce and the optional dark soy sauce, and stir well.

Make a slurry with the potato starch and water and pour it in slowly while stirring.

Gently stir the pan to cover the tofu with the sauce and let it bubble for another minute.

Plate and garnish generously with the freshly chopped green onions.