Name: Thai-Inspired Vegetable Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Yield: 5 servings
Ingredients: 1/4 cup butter; 6 tomatoes, peeled and quartered; 3 zucchini, cut into chunks; 1 yellow onion, cut in half and quartered; 1 red bell pepper, chopped; 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped; 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (preferably Thai basil); 1 tablespoon lime juice; 1 pinch salt; 2 1/2 cups milk; 3 tablespoons coconut butter; 1 tablespoon curry powder; 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric; 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger; 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 bay leaf; 5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (optional)

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,979 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,805 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pepper + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,294 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

Swap the thai basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, tomato, onion, pepper, clove, garlic, basil):

Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Parsleyfits better
Thai basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, tomato, onion, pepper, clove, garlic, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Coconut	1/2 cup shredded (40g)	283
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Thai-Inspired Vegetable Soup