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Mapo Tofu

This fully vegetarian adaptation of Mapo Tofu is delicious and will leave your tongue buzzing. The magic in this recipe is the Sichuan peppercorns, which bring the dish to the next level.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 12 ingredients
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Mapo Tofu

Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Mapo Tofu

Serves 4
Prep15 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

587Calories
23 gProtein
20 gFat
82 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Black Bean1/2 cup canned (120g) drained114
Tofu100g firm76
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Beannot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Beans + ricetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,017 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Tofu + beanstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Garlic + beanstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,935 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tofu, garlic, beans, sauce, onion, rice):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tofu, garlic, beans, sauce, onion, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.