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Burmese Tofu Salad

A Burmese salad of sliced tofu, garlic, soy sauce, ginger, chili powder, onion, and tamarind juice, tossed with a fried onion and chili mixture.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Burmese Tofu Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tofu

  1. Combine sliced tofu, garlic, soy sauce, and ginger in a serving dish or salad bowl and set aside.

Make the onion-chili topping

  1. Heat vegetable oil in a wok or frying pan over low heat.

  2. Cook chili powder in the oil for 5 minutes, stirring well.

  3. Add onions and stir-fry for 5 minutes or until onions turn brown.

  4. Add tamarind juice and stir for 2 minutes.

Serve

  1. Pour the onion-chili mixture over the tofu, toss well, and serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

262Calories
11 gProtein
19 gFat
16 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Tofu100g firm76
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Tamarindnot 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.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Ginger + tamarindtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together325 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Clove + tamarindtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together145 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Tofu
Forms the main body of the salad and absorbs the flavours of the seasonings.
Onion
Softens and browns in the oil, adding sweetness and savoury depth.
Chili powder
Bloomed in hot oil to release its colour and heat into the dish.
Tamarind juice
Adds sourness that balances the richness of the fried onion.
Vegetable oil
Carries the chili and onion flavours and cooks the onions evenly.

The step that matters

Browning the onions. Onions must brown fully over low heat to develop sweetness and depth; stirring steadily prevents scorching, which would make the topping bitter.

Swap the clove

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

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

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

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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