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Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Baked Tofu with Honey-Sesame Glaze

Tender, caramelized brussels sprouts with extra crispy tofu and brown rice, topped with an irresistible sweet-and-spicy glaze. This meal requires some prep work, but once you’re ready, you can cook the rice, sprouts and tofu in about 30 minutes, while making the glaze in the meantime. For a simple side dish, roast 2+ pounds of sprouts and skip the rice and tofu.

By cookieandkate · From Open Recipes · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Tofu and sesame match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 250 recipes mention both. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep20 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Rinse the brown rice, then simmer it in a covered pot of water with a pinch of fine sea salt for about 30 minutes until tender. Keep covered off the heat.

  2. Drain the tofu, press it in a towel for 10 minutes, then cut into 1-inch cubes. Toss the cubes with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon tamari.

  3. Sprinkle the tofu with the arrowroot starch or cornstarch and toss until evenly coated. Spread on one lined baking sheet in a single layer.

  4. Trim the Brussels sprouts and halve them. Toss with 1½ tablespoons olive oil and a pinch of fine sea salt, then spread on a second lined baking sheet, cut side down.

  5. Roast the tofu and sprouts for 20 to 25 minutes, turning the tofu and sprouts once, until the tofu is crisp and the sprouts are browned at the edges.

  6. While they roast, whisk the ¼ cup tamari, honey, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, and chili garlic sauce in a small saucepan. Simmer 3 minutes until slightly thickened.

  7. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, shaking often, until golden.

  8. Toss the roasted tofu and sprouts with the glaze in a large bowl. Serve over the cooked rice, topped with sesame seeds and chopped cilantro.

By cookieandkate. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Tofu + sesametop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together250 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together643 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Rice + olivetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,838 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Olive + sesametop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,540 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  5. Olive + tofutop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together544 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the arrowroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, brussels sprouts, olive, tofu, sauce, honey, maple syrup):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
  4. Arrowrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, brussels sprouts, olive, tofu, sauce, honey, maple syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).