Name: Black Pepper Tofu
Ingredients: 800 g firm tofu; vegetable oil, for frying; cornflour, for dusting the tofu; 150 g butter; 12 shallots (350g), thinly sliced; 8 mild red chillies, thinly sliced; 12 garlic cloves, crushed; 3 tbsp chopped fresh ginger; 3 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis); 3 tbsp light soy sauce (shoyu); 4 tsp dark soy sauce (tamari); 2 tbsp caster sugar; 5 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely crushed (use a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder); 16 small, thin spring onions, cut into 3cm segments

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 ↓

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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,402 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Shallot + gingertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together565 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Firm tofu: Frying gives the cubes a golden, crisp crust while the inside stays soft.
Cornflour: A light dusting crisps the tofu surface and helps it brown in the hot oil.
Shallots: Softened slowly, they turn sweet and build the base of the sauce.
Garlic cloves: Cooked gently, they add savoury aroma and mellow into the sauce.
Black peppercorns: Crushed peppercorns release their pungent aroma and sharp heat into the sauce.
Sweet soy sauce (kecap manis): Its sugar and thickness add sweetness and a glossy, sticky body to the sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the tofu in batches. Crowding the pan drops the oil temperature, so the tofu steams and turns soggy instead of browning into a crisp crust. Frying in small batches keeps the oil hot.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tofu, butter, shallot, garlic, ginger, sauce, sugar):

Turmericfits better
Capersfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tofu, butter, shallot, garlic, ginger, sauce, sugar. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Tofu	100g firm	76
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2

Black Pepper Tofu