Why it works: Olive and kidney beans work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 551 recipes mention both. Both carry trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add the chopped onion and jalapeno pepper and cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 6 minutes.
Stir in the chopped tomato and tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes, mashing the tomato with a spoon.
Add the kidney beans with their liquid, the ground cumin and the curry powder, and stir to combine.
Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and mashing some beans against the side of the pan, until thickened.
Season with salt and black pepper to taste, then serve hot.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Olive + kidney beanstop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,164 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Tomato + cumintop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,272 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Jalapeno + cumintop 2% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together688 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the jalapeno
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, tomato, kidney beans, cumin, pepper):
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Oreganobetter flavor fit
- Corianderbetter flavor fit
- Jalapenothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, tomato, kidney beans, cumin, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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