Name: Rustic Tomato Soup with Toasted Cumin and Mini Rajas
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons cumin seeds; 6 tablespoons olive oil; 4 cups chopped onions (about 2 large); 6 large garlic cloves, peeled; 2 teaspoons achiote paste*; 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice; 2 28-ounce cans peeled whole tomatoes with basil in juice, tomatoes diced, all juice reserved; 4 cups low-salt chicken broth; 1 3-to 4-inch dried guajillo chile,** stemmed, seeded, coarsely torn; Cayenne pepper (optional); Coarse kosher salt; Vegetable oil (for frying); 4 4-inch corn tortilla squares (cut from round tortillas), halved, cut into 2 x 1/4-inch strips; 1 5-ounce package mini bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, cut into thin strip

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Cumin + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,979 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cumin, olive, garlic, clove, allspice, tomato, basil):

Eggplantfits better
Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Onionthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Corn Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Allspice	1 tsp ground (1.9g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Seed	not in our table	0

Rustic Tomato Soup with Toasted Cumin and Mini Rajas