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Tahu Gejrot

A spicy and sweet Indonesian tofu dish with a sauce of chilies, garlic, shallots, palm sugar, tamarind, and kecap manis.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Tahu Gejrot

Serves 5

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sauce

  1. Grind the chiles, garlic, and shallots together, then set aside.

  2. Combine the palm sugar, tamarind, and water in a saucepan.

  3. Boil the mixture until all the ingredients dissolve and form a syrup.

  4. Pour the syrup over the ground chile mixture. Mix well until evenly combined.

Assemble and serve

  1. Cut the tofu diagonally, then press lightly until the center of the tofu is slightly crushed.

  2. Arrange the tofu on a plate, then drizzle with the spicy and sweet sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

173Calories
9 gProtein
5 gFat
26 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Tofu100g firm76
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Tamarindnot in our table0
Waternot 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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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. Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Shallot + tamarindtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together20 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Garlic + tamarindtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together395 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Bird's eye chiles
Provide the heat that defines the sauce.
Palm sugar
Adds sweetness and body to the syrup as it dissolves.
Tamarind
Adds sourness that balances the sweetness and heat.
Tofu
Forms the base of the dish, soaking up the sauce.
Kecap manis
Adds sweetness and a thick, savoury-sweet depth.

The step that matters

Boiling the palm sugar, tamarind, and water into a syrup. If the mixture boils too briefly, the sugar may not fully dissolve and the syrup will be thin and grainy. Boiling until the sugar is fully dissolved and the liquid has reduced gives a smooth, cohesive sauce that clings to the tofu.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, shallot, sugar, tamarind, tofu. 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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