Moqueca de Tofu with Rice

What it is

Extra-firm tofu, cubed and tossed with lime, garlic and salt, tucked between rounds of tomato over onion and peppers. Coconut milk and dendê, the red palm oil, go over the top, the lid goes on, and the pot simmers without a single stir. Coriander, scallions, garlic rice and lime alongside.

Why you should eat it

The tofu carries about three quarters of the protein, and the vegetables share the fiber with it. The rice brings most of the carbs. The rich part is the broth: the coconut milk and the dendê bring most of the saturated fat. Nearly all the salt is what you add. Lighter pot? See the swaps.

Tips

• Check the pack: tofu firmness has no standard, and the protein varies a lot by brand.
• Once the broth is in, put the spoon down; a gentle shake keeps the bottom from sticking and the tofu in cubes.
• After cutting chillies, rub a little oil on your hands, then wash them: the heat dissolves in fat.

Substitutions

• Dendê: Olive oil, the same 2 tbsp. Much less saturated fat, closer to the lighter moqueca of Espírito Santo.
• Extra-firm tofu: Firm tofu, handled gently. Softer cubes that may break.
• Coconut milk: Light coconut milk. Less fat in the broth.
• Make it vegan: Nothing to swap: it's already vegan. Nothing changes.

Storage

Moqueca: fridge within 2 hours, eaten within 3 to 4 days, or frozen for 3 to 4 months; reheat until the broth boils. Rice: chill it within the hour, keep it no more than a day, and reheat once, until steaming hot.

While it simmers: the number I won't build on

Lid on, heat low, and your only job is to leave the pot alone. Pull up a chair.

Tofu plays the black beans' position from number one: rich in lysine, the amino acid rice runs short on, while the rice lends back the sulfur pair. So the rice on the side is the teammate.

And here's a number I won't trust. One big database gives tofu a very low share of the sulfur pair, far below the soybeans it's made from, and the gap is nearly all one amino acid, cysteine.

Picture the gym scale telling you that you lost 3 kg overnight. You don't throw a party. You step off, step back on, and suspect the scale. I can't step back on this one, so you get it as printed, and nobody builds 'tofu is short on the sulfur pair' on it.

So: tofu brings the lysine, and the rice brings the sulfur pair.

Tofu against beef, portion for portion

In Arkansas, 56 young adults ate one protein food on its own, at portions US guidelines call equivalent: beef, pork, eggs, beans, nuts, peanut butter or tofu. Beef, pork and eggs lifted the body's protein balance more than any plant food, and the tofu portion carried about half the beef's protein. For your plate: an 'equivalent' with half the protein wasn't equivalent, so each plate here gets a real portion of tofu. Eight people per food; meat and egg industry bodies paid.

Soy against whey in the gym

At Arizona State, 48 young adults new to lifting trained for 12 weeks with a daily shake of whey or soy protein, matched on leucine. Both groups gained muscle and strength, and the statistics found no difference between them. For your plate: matched on leucine, soy kept pace with whey, though these were powders, not tofu. Mostly women, all beginners; student research grants paid.

The internet's favourite soy myth

Researchers pooled 41 studies where men ate soy foods, soy protein or isoflavones, the compounds behind the rumour, and had their hormones measured. No effect showed up on testosterone or estrogen, at any dose or length. For your plate: tofu won't tank your testosterone. Hormone levels only, and the funding statements don't square with each other: soy groups appear in the fine print. On hormone treatment? Talk to your doctor.