Ma po tofu

While making mulled wine during Christmas, I added a handful of Sichuan pepper for fun, surprisingly the Ma flavour comes out so well that I have to dilute with more red wine to make it palatable. 

Since then I wonder the Ma flavour may actually comes out better in liquid than in oil. The traditional way is to cook Sichuan pepper in a lot of oil for the flavour, with makes a dish very oily, a reason why I do not use it often.
Now that I know it work so well in liquid I tried making Ma po tofu in this less oily way.

1.Cook minced pork and carrot, green bean, chilli until soft.
2.Bring to boil a bowl of water, add a handful of sichuan pepper, and a tbsp of oil, simmer for 5 minutes, remove pepper.
3. Add tofu into water, then combine with meat and veg, season to taste.