{"product_id":"marumiya-mapo-tofu-rice-bowl","title":"Marumiya Mabo Don — Japanese Mapo Tofu Rice Bowl, 297g","description":"\u003cp\u003eA whole mapo tofu bowl in one box, with the rice already in it: microwave it in its own tray. No pan, no kettle, nothing to keep cold. This is the Japanese version rather than the Sichuan one, so it lands gentler: chilli-bean heat, a lot of ginger, and none of the numbing peppercorn. Everyday Japanese supermarket food, and a light-to-normal lunch rather than a big dinner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e麻婆丼, mabo don.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat you're getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWhat it tastes like\u003c\/strong\u003e: savoury with a sweet edge, chilli-bean paste doing the heat and a clear run of ginger through it. Milder, sweeter and rounder than the Sichuan version of the same dish.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHow hot it actually is\u003c\/strong\u003e: it is chilli-bean warmth, not the tingling, mouth-numbing kind; there is no Sichuan peppercorn in it. How hot that lands is genuinely personal: plenty of people who avoid chilli are fine with it, and plenty find that \"medium\" undersells it. Treat it as a warm dish rather than a hot one, and keep something cold to hand the first time. Where a Japanese review mentions choosing the medium-hot, that is this one. Marumiya makes no mild version, and medium is the only heat this bowl comes in.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTexture\u003c\/strong\u003e: if you are expecting the tofu to have gone crumbly, it hasn't: the cubes hold their shape. Wood ear mushroom keeps its bite against them, and the sauce is glossy and spoon-thick.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWhat is actually in it\u003c\/strong\u003e: tofu, chicken mince and wood ear mushroom on Japanese short-grain rice. Chicken, not the pork most mapo recipes call for.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe honest bit\u003c\/strong\u003e: it is one modest serve. Plenty for a light lunch; if you want it to be dinner, plan on something alongside it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAllergens\u003c\/strong\u003e: contains wheat, sesame, soy and apple. Australia's allergen chart has no apple category, so apple cannot appear in the pack's allergen box here — check the ingredients, not the chart; ours is the fuller list. The pack also declares chicken and pork. Japan asks for those, Australia does not treat them as allergens.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePork is worth a second look if you avoid it\u003c\/strong\u003e: it is on the pack's contains-list rather than a may-contain warning, yet appears under none of the ingredient names: it arrives through a hydrolysed protein or an extract, and the visible meat is chicken.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few things worth knowing before you buy. The rice is in the box. This is a complete meal, not a sauce to pour over rice you cook yourself, which is what \"instant mapo\" almost always means in English. The pack is timed in Japanese wattages, so check your microwave's wattage on the plate inside its door and use the matching time: \u003cstrong\u003e500 W about 3 minutes · 600 W about 2 minutes 30 · 1000 W about 1 minute 30 · 1500 W about 1 minute.\u003c\/strong\u003e The three minutes printed largest on the pack is the 500 W figure, not a default. \u003cstrong\u003eDo not put it in an oven or a toaster oven, and do not use your microwave's automatic reheat setting: the maker warns that it overheats the pack.\u003c\/strong\u003e Wood ear mushroom is the same thing sold here as black fungus or cloud ear.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Marumiya","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48261115347170,"sku":"SH-RCE-0005","price":7.69,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0824\/1312\/5858\/files\/marumiya-mabo-don-rice-bowl-pack.webp?v=1787875908","url":"https:\/\/shintop.com.au\/products\/marumiya-mapo-tofu-rice-bowl","provider":"Shintop Trading Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}