Teriyaki Tofu with Baby Bok Choy & Rice
Soy sauce hits a hot pan of crispy tofu cubes and reduces to a dark, sticky glaze in about sixty seconds. No bottled teriyaki, no added sugar — just soy, heat, and one pan used twice.
The bok choy and halved radishes go in next, picking up the residual flavor. Six ingredients, fifteen minutes, and a fully plant-based dinner that quietly delivers one thing most people associate with dairy: calcium absorbed at 54%, nearly twice the rate of milk, according to a randomized study in 15 women.
Soy sauce hits a hot pan of crispy tofu cubes and reduces to a dark, sticky glaze in about sixty seconds. No bottled teriyaki, no added sugar — just soy, heat, and one pan used twice.
The bok choy and halved radishes go in next, picking up the residual flavor. Six ingredients, fifteen minutes, and a fully plant-based dinner that quietly delivers one thing most people associate with dairy: calcium absorbed at 54%, nearly twice the rate of milk, according to a randomized study in 15 women.
Ingredients
- brown rice 3 ounces
- baby bok choy 1 head
- radishes 5 pieces
- tofu 3 ounces
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- soy sauce 1.5 tablespoon
Method
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Cook the rice according to the package instructions.
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Trim the end of the bok choy and separate the leaves. Halve the radishes. Cut the tofu into cubes and pat them dry.
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Heat half of the oil in a large pan and fry the tofu until crispy. Add half of the soy sauce and cook, stirring, until the liquid has evaporated and the tofu is dark brown. Transfer the tofu to a plate.
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Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and stir-fry the radishes and bok choy leaves for 3-4 minutes. Add the rest of the soy sauce and stir-fry for another 1-2 minutes until the bok choy is tender-crisp.
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Serve the rice with the bok choy and radishes. Top with the teriyaki tofu.
Keep stirring continuously when you add the soy sauce to the hot tofu in step 3. The liquid evaporates fast, and the natural sugars in the soy sauce caramelize onto the tofu cubes as they go. If you stop stirring, the sauce burns flat to the pan instead of coating the tofu.
Bok choy belongs to the brassica family — the same group as broccoli and kale. These vegetables are naturally low in oxalate, a compound that binds calcium and blocks absorption. A 1993 study measured calcium absorption from intrinsically labeled bok choy in 15 women and found 54% of the calcium reached the bloodstream. Milk, at the same test conditions, came in at 32%. Spinach — despite having more total calcium per serving — absorbs at only 5% because of its high oxalate content. In a fully plant-based meal like this one, the bok choy is doing more nutritional work than the ingredient list suggests.
Heaney et al., 1993 — Brassica calcium bioavailability · DOIBehind this recipe
Is bok choy a good source of calcium without dairy?
By absorption rate, yes. A 1993 study in 15 women found that calcium from bok choy is absorbed at 54%, compared to 32% from milk. Bok choy is a brassica vegetable, naturally low in oxalate — the compound that traps calcium in foods like spinach (which absorbs at only 5%). One head of baby bok choy has less total calcium than a glass of milk, so you would need about 2.3 servings to match the total absorbed amount. But the absorption efficiency means more of what you eat reaches your bones.
Is 20 grams of protein enough for a meal?
Twenty grams is modest for a dinner plate. Most adults need 0.8 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram daily, which at 70 kg works out to 56 to 112 grams total. A lunch with 35 to 40 grams of protein plus this dinner keeps the math in range. If your earlier meals ran lighter, doubling the tofu to 168 grams brings this closer to 30 grams without changing anything else about the bowl.
Why does the recipe use olive oil instead of sesame oil?
Olive oil handles the high heat in steps 3 and 4 without smoking or overpowering the soy sauce glaze. Sesame oil has a lower smoke point and a strong flavor that would compete with the teriyaki coating. If you want the sesame taste, a few drops of toasted sesame oil drizzled over the finished bowl adds it without the burn risk.
