Name: Curried Plum and Green Bean Stir-Fry
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup long-grain brown rice; 3/4 teaspoon salt (preferably kosher), divided; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 4 scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced; 1 small hot red chile (like cayenne), chopped; 1 tablespoon chopped ginger; 1 tablespoon curry powder; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 4 cups trimmed, halved green beans; 3 plums, pitted and cut into small wedges; 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced; 1/2 cup reduced-fat coconut milk; 1/2 cup unsalted, roasted cashews

Why it works: Rice and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,063 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. 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.

Rice + coconuttop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,063 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ginger + coconuttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,168 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ginger + plumtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together272 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the green beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, ginger, pepper, plum, coconut, milk):

Capsicumfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Carrotfits better
Green beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, ginger, pepper, plum, coconut, milk. 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
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Cashew	1 oz (28g / ~18 nuts)	157
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Curried Plum and Green Bean Stir-Fry