Name: Chicken-Peanut Stew
Ingredients: 2 medium white onions, sliced; 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces; 2 Scotch bonnet chilies, cut in half, seeds and ribs removed; One 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced; 2 bay leaves; 6 white peppercorns; 4 cups water; 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each cut into 4 pieces; 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, each cut into 4 pieces; 2 cups unsalted peanuts; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes; 4 tomatoes, cut into quarters, or 2 cups roughly chopped canned tomatoes; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 pound spinach, tough stems removed, washed

Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

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.

Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Carrot + gingertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,798 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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, carrot, chicken, peanut, olive, potato, tomato):

Garlicfits better
Cuminfits better
Corianderfits better
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, carrot, chicken, peanut, olive, potato, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Scotch	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Chicken-Peanut Stew