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Cilantro Salad

Perhaps the best salad I've had in the past year. And, unless you absolutely loathe cilantro, you must try it. Simply cilantro leaves and stems tossed with a simple shallot-forward soy sauce dressing, plus peanuts, and asparagus. So good.

By 101cookbooks · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Cilantro Salad

Why it works: Peanut and sesame match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 349 recipes. Both carry 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

Cilantro Salad

Prep10 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

296Calories
13 gProtein
14 gFat
35 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 12 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Peanut1 oz (28g)161
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Asparagus6 spears (90g)27
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Chive1 tbsp (3g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Sunflower Oilnot in our table0
Toasted Sesame Seednot in our table0
Flowernot 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 101cookbooks. 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. Peanut + sesametop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together349 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Sunflower + sesametop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Shallot + asparagustop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Asparagus + sesametop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together73 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the garlic

The recipe marks garlic as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sunflower, shallot, asparagus, sauce, sugar, peanut, sesame):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Garlicthe original
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sunflower, shallot, asparagus, sauce, sugar, peanut, sesame. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.