Start Autumn by Storing Up Health with 4 Perfect Food Pairings
Core Tip: To better absorb the nutrients of tofu, you need to find the right partners for it on your dining table: pair it with meat for better protein absorption; add egg yolk and blood tofu to absorb more calcium; add kelp and seaweed to supplement more iodine; and add green vegetables and wood ear mushrooms for better disease prevention.
Tofu is a recognized nutritious food. It is not only naturally healthy and simple to prepare, but also a common home-cooked dish. Tofu dishes can be rich or mild in flavor and are "versatile" with almost all ingredients. However, to better absorb the nutrients of tofu, you need to find the right "partners" for it on your dining table.
1. Pair with meat for better protein absorption
Soybeans are known as "plant meat" and are the best source of protein among plant-based foods. Tofu, made from soybeans, is also rich in protein. However, the content and ratio of amino acids in tofu protein are not very ideal and are not particularly suitable for human digestion and absorption.
If you add some foods with very high-quality protein while eating tofu, it can complement the tofu, allowing the protein in tofu to be better digested, absorbed, and utilized by the body. And the best foods for this high-quality protein are none other than meat and eggs.
Therefore, dishes like braised tofu with minced meat and century egg tofu salad allow for better protein absorption.
2. Add egg yolk and blood tofu to absorb more calcium
Just as you need to supplement vitamin D when taking calcium tablets, you need to pair tofu with vitamin D-rich foods to supplement calcium. This is because vitamin D plays a very important role in the absorption and utilization of calcium.
Although tofu is very rich in calcium, and the calcium in northern tofu is even more than the same amount of milk, it is more effective when paired with vitamin D-rich foods when eating tofu.
Egg yolks are rich in vitamin D, so the delicious and smooth egg yolk tofu is an excellent dish for calcium supplementation. Animal organs, such as liver and blood, are also high in vitamin D, so making "red and white tofu" by combining white tofu with blood tofu is also very ideal.
In addition, animal organs like chicken gizzards and pork liver also play a good role in increasing the calcium absorption of tofu.
3. Add kelp and seaweed to supplement more iodine
Tofu not only supplements nutrition but also has a certain therapeutic effect on preventing arteriosclerosis. This is because tofu contains a substance called saponin, which can prevent the production of oxidized lipids that cause arteriosclerosis.
However, saponin can cause a problem: it leads to abnormal iodine excretion in the body, and long-term consumption may lead to iodine deficiency. Therefore, adding iodine-rich seafood like kelp and seaweed when cooking tofu is a perfect solution.
4. Add green vegetables and wood ear mushrooms for better disease prevention
Although tofu is nutritious, it lacks dietary fiber, and eating it alone may cause constipation. Green vegetables and wood ear mushrooms are rich in dietary fiber, which can just make up for this shortcoming of tofu.
In addition, wood ear mushrooms and green vegetables also contain many antioxidant components that can improve immunity and prevent diseases. When eaten with tofu, their disease-fighting effect is even better.
It should be noted that green leafy vegetables like spinach and amaranth have high oxalic acid content. They should be blanched first before being cooked with tofu to avoid affecting the absorption of calcium in tofu.