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Tofu Rice Bowl

A bowl of rice topped with crumbled tofu, pickled carrots and radishes, fresh vegetables, and a sriracha yogurt dressing.

By Health Canada · From Canada's Food Guide · 23 ingredients
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Tofu Rice Bowl

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Tofu Rice Bowl

Serves 4
Timeat least 20 minutes marinating

Ingredients

Directions

Pickle the vegetables

  1. Slice carrots into ribbons with a vegetable peeler and place them in a small bowl or glass jar.

  2. Place radishes in a separate bowl or glass jar.

  3. In a small pot, bring water, vinegar, garlic, pepper, salt, and sugar to a boil.

  4. Pour the hot mixture over carrots and radishes.

  5. Let marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Make the tofu and rice

  1. Cook rice according to package instructions.

  2. In a large pan, heat sesame oil and ginger over medium heat for 1 minute.

  3. Add crumbled tofu and warm through while stirring.

  4. Pour in hoisin sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, and basil.

  5. Stir well and add water.

  6. Cook until half of the water evaporates.

  7. Remove from heat.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix sriracha, yogurt, and lime juice together.

  2. Serve tofu over rice.

  3. Top with cucumber, bell pepper strips, cilantro, pickled carrots, pickled radishes, and sriracha yogurt dressing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

665Calories
34 gProtein
20 gFat
90 gCarbs

Counts 18 of 20 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 18 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Tofu100g firm76
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Sriracha1 tsp (5g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Saucenot 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 Health Canada. Recipe from Canada's Food Guide.

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Radish + garlictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together199 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,477 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Firm tofu
Provides the protein body of the bowl and absorbs the sauce as it warms.
Brown rice
Forms the starchy base that soaks up the sauce and balances the savoury tofu.
White vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens and preserves the quick-pickled carrots and radishes.
Greek yogurt
Adds creamy richness and tang to the sriracha dressing, cooling its heat.
Soy sauce
Supplies salty, savoury depth to the tofu glaze.

The step that matters

Cook until half of the water evaporates. Reducing the liquid concentrates the hoisin and soy flavours and lets the tofu coat rather than sit in watery sauce. Stop too early and the bowl stays soupy; go too far and the sauce turns sticky and may scorch.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, radish, vinegar, clove, pepper, sugar, rice):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, radish, vinegar, clove, pepper, sugar, rice. 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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