Ching-He Huang served up tasty mapo tofu with smashed cucumbers on Saturday Kitchen.

The ingredients for the smashed cucumbers are: 1 cucumber, pinch salt, 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 garlic cloves, ,crushed, 1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger, 2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar, 1–2 tsp caster sugar and 2 tbsp crispy chilli bean oil.

For the mapo tofu: 1–2 tbsp groundnut oil, 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, 2.5cm fresh root ginger, peeled and grated, 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped, 2 tbsp chilli bean paste, 1 tbsp fermented black bean paste, 400g fresh firm tofu, drained and sliced into 1.5cm cubes, 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, 1 tbsp low-sodium light soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 200ml cold vegetable stock, 1 tbsp Sichuan preserved vegetables in chilli oil, finely chopped, 1 tbsp cornflour, blended with 2 tbsp cold water, salt and freshly ground pepper.

To serve: cooked jasmine rice, 2 pinches ground toasted Sichuan peppercorns, 1 spring onion, trimmed and finely sliced, 1 small bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked and stems chopped and drizzle chilli oil (optional).

See recipes by Ching in her book titled: Wok On: Deliciously balanced Asian meals in 30 minutes or less available from Amazon now.