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Mayan Couscous

"Many visitors to Merida and Yucatan are surprised to discover excellent Middle Eastern restaurants and such things as kibis offered by local vendors. The cooks of the area happily adopted some of the recipes and ingredients of the Lebanese immigrants who arrived more than a century ago. Here's a Yucatecan version of couscous salad."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 12 ingredients
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Mayan Couscous

Why it works: Cumin and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,188 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Mayan Couscous

4 servings
Prep15 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

569Calories
19 gProtein
17 gFat
92 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Couscous1 cup cooked (157g)176
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Black Bean1/2 cup canned (120g) drained114
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Red Onion1 medium (110g)44
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Cumin + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,188 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Cumin + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cumin + jalapenotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Beans + corntop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cumin, garlic, beans, corn, onion, jalapeno, pepper):

  1. Corianderfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cumin, garlic, beans, corn, onion, jalapeno, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.