Time Fuse Mapo Curry Noodles

Also called Countdown Mapo Curry Noodles (Anime)

Chef: Sōma Yukihira
In the manga: Chapter 129
In the anime: Episode 41
Cuisine and type: Chinese, Mapo Doufu, Lion's Head

Time Fuse Mapo Curry Noodles is a dish made by Sōma Yukihira in order to challenge Terunori Kuga during the Moon Banquet Festival.

This dish was created by Sōma during the Moon Banquet Festival to combat against Kuga Terunori in sales. This dish is comprised of three parts: curry, meatball, and mapo tofu. The soup is made from beef bones, several curry spices, garlic, and ginger to make the curry dish. The soup is then mixed in gelatin which has been wrapped with the meatballs Sōma uses for his Hujiao Bing.

Real-world dishes

Real facts

Mapo tofu or Mapo doufu (麻婆豆腐) is a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan province. It consists of tofu set in a spicy sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, based on douban 豆瓣 (fermented broadbean and chili paste) and douchi 豆豉 (fermented black beans), along with minced meat, usually pork or beef. Variations exist with other ingredients such as water chestnuts, onions, other vegetables, or wood ear fungus.
Curry (/ˈkʌri/, plural curries) is an umbrella term referring to a number of dishes originating in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent. The common feature is the use of complex combinations of spices or herbs, usually including turmeric, cumin, ginger, and fresh or dried hot chillies. The use of the term is generally limited to dishes prepared in a sauce. Curry dishes prepared in the southern states of India may be spiced with leaves from the curry tree.
Lion's Head (simplified Chinese: 狮子头; traditional Chinese: 獅子頭; pinyin: Shīzitóu) or stewed meatball is a dish from the Huaiyang cuisine of eastern China, consisting of large pork meatballs stewed with vegetables. There are two varieties: white (or plain), and red(红烧, cooked with soy sauce). The plain variety is usually stewed or steamed with napa cabbage. The red variety can be stewed with cabbage or cooked with bamboo shoots and tofu derivatives. The minced meat rich in fat is more likely to bring better texture, addition of chopped water chestnut also works.

Dish details from the Shokugeki no Sōma Wiki (CC BY-SA).

Recipe

Wiki recipe, completed by Totsuki AI

Time Fuse Mapo Curry Noodles

A curry-gelatin core hidden inside lion's-head meatballs, served on noodles with mapo tofu — the curry melts out as you eat

Difficulty
Total time: 3 h
Hands-on: 1 h 10 min
Cost: ¥¥¥¥
Servings: 4

Equipmentpot, wok, steamer or oven, small tray

Tastespicy, umami, comforting

Ingredients

+ added by Totsuki AI.

Curry filling

480 ml beef bone broth
2½ cm ginger, sliced
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tbsp curry powder
7 g gelatin powder
2 tbsp water

Meatballs

500 g ground pork
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp five-spice powder
¼ tsp anise, ground
1 tbsp black pepper, freshly ground

Mapo tofu

480 ml chicken stock
2 tbsp doubanjiang
2 tbsp fermented black bean sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
chili flakes, to taste, to taste
1 tbsp sichuan peppercorns, freshly ground
5 green onions, chopped, whites and greens separated
400 g silken tofu, cubed (added by Totsuki AI)
1 tbsp potato starch, mixed with water (added by Totsuki AI)

Noodles

400 g wheat noodles (added by Totsuki AI)

Method

+ step written by Totsuki AI.

1
Simmer the broth with the ginger, garlic and curry powder for 15 minutes; strain. Dissolve the gelatin (bloomed in the water) into it, pour into a tray and chill until firm. Cut into cubes.+
2
Mix the meatball ingredients, wrap each portion around a curry gelatin cube to make large lion's-head meatballs, and chill for 30 minutes.+
3
Steam (or bake at 190 °C) the meatballs for 15–18 minutes until 71 °C in the meat.+
4
Fry the green onion whites, doubanjiang and black bean sauce, add the stock and soy sauce, then the tofu; simmer for 3 minutes and thicken with starch. Season with chili and sichuan pepper.+
5
Cook the noodles. Serve with the mapo tofu, a meatball on top and green onion greens; break the meatball to release the curry.+

Food safety

Cook minced meat through to 71 °C / 160 °F — no pink in the centre.