Name: Curry and Rice
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked rice; 2 cups cooked mutton, diced; 2 tablespoons curry powder; 1 onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; Salt to taste; Fresh cilantro for garnish

Why it works: Rice and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Curry and Rice

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat.
Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent.
Stir in the curry powder and cook for 1 minute.
Add the diced mutton and cook until heated through.
Mix in the cooked rice and season with salt.
Garnish with fresh cilantro before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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.

Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Rice + muttontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,019 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,531 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton: Provides the main protein and meaty flavor of the dish.
Curry powder: Supplies the spice blend that gives the dish its characteristic aroma and flavor.
Onion: Adds sweetness and savory depth as it softens in the hot oil.
Cooked rice: Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the flavors of the curry.