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Tofu Saltado

A stir-fried tofu dish with potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs, seasoned with soy sauce, chili, and spices.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Coriander and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,866 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Tofu Saltado

Time15–20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix 2 tbsp soy sauce with 2 tsp crispy chili in a container.

  2. Cube tofu and add to the mixture, mixing thoroughly to marinate.

  3. Cut potatoes into 1 cm cubes.

  4. Cut red bell peppers into large chunks.

  5. Slice red onion.

  6. Cut tomatoes into eighths and remove seeds.

  7. Chop mint and fresh coriander together.

Cook

  1. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan.

  2. Add potatoes and fry for 15–20 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat, drain, and cool on kitchen roll.

  4. Fry tofu for 10 minutes.

  5. Remove and drain tofu on kitchen roll.

  6. Fry red onion for about 5 minutes.

  7. Add red bell pepper and fry with onion for about 3 minutes.

  8. Add tomatoes, garlic, spices, vinegar, remaining soy sauce, crispy chili, and 5 tbsp water; cook for 5 minutes.

  9. Add tofu back to the pan with about 40 g of fresh coriander and mint mixture; toss.

Serve

  1. Serve tofu mixture over fried potatoes with a sprinkling of fresh herbs on top.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

709Calories
22 gProtein
20 gFat
109 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 15 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Tofu100g firm76
Red Onion1 medium (110g)44
Red Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Coriandernot in our table0
Peppermintnot 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. Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,866 recipes

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

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

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

  4. Garlic + coriandertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,474 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + coriandertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,949 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Firm tofu
Provides a protein base that browns on the outside while staying tender inside.
Potatoes
Fried in oil until crisp outside, giving starch and a contrasting texture under the saucy topping.
Red onions
Soften and sweeten as they fry, adding aroma to the sauce base.
Tomatoes
Break down during cooking to add moisture and acidity to the sauce.
Soy sauce
Adds salty, savoury depth to the marinade and the sauce.
Rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances its richness.

The step that matters

Fry the tofu until well browned and drained. Tofu holds a lot of surface moisture. Drying it and frying it in hot oil lets the outside brown and crisp, so it keeps its texture when tossed in the sauce rather than turning soggy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tofu, sauce, pepper, garlic, coriander, cumin, rice wine):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Welsh onionfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tofu, sauce, pepper, garlic, coriander, cumin, rice wine. 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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