Why it works: Millet and amaranth share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 5 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
12 servingsIngredients
Contains: sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Rinse the brown basmati rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat groats and amaranth in a fine sieve under cold running water until the water runs clear.
Drain the grains well and dry them on a clean towel for a few minutes.
Toast the drained grains in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until fragrant. Transfer to a plate to cool.
Toast the sesame seeds in the same dry skillet over medium heat for about 2 minutes, shaking often, until golden. Cool completely.
Combine the toasted grains, toasted sesame seeds, flax seeds, cornmeal and amaranth in a large airtight jar and shake well to mix. Store at room temperature.
To serve, add a portion of the mix to a saucepan and cover generously with water.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to low, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes, stirring now and then and adding a splash of water if it thickens too much, until the grains are tender.
Remove from the heat, let stand covered for 5 minutes, then stir and spoon into bowls.
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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Millet + amaranthtop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Quinoa + amaranthtop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Quinoa + millettop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together18 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Quinoa + sesametop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Buckwheat + sesametop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together21 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the buckwheat
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (basmati rice, quinoa, millet, sesame, amaranth):
- Corianderbetter flavor fit
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Turmericbetter flavor fit
- Buckwheatthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against basmati rice, quinoa, millet, sesame, amaranth. 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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