Why it works: Mung bean and shallot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 11 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Makes about 2 cups.Ingredients
Contains: sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Put the mung beans, lemon juice, tahini paste, garlic clove and sea salt into a food processor or blender.
Blend, scraping down the sides as needed, until the mixture is mostly smooth.
With the machine running, add the water a little at a time until the hummus is smooth and spreadable.
Taste and adjust the salt or lemon juice if needed, then blend briefly to combine.
Spoon the hummus into a serving bowl and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
Optional: heat the oven to 375°F (190°C), arrange the pita strips on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 8 minutes, then let cool.
Top the hummus with any of the optional serving items you like, such as shallot or an olive oil drizzle, fried shallots, minced chives or zaatar, and serve with the pita strips.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Mung bean + shallottop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Mung bean + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together63 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).
-
Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,949 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Lemon + shallottop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,484 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Lemon + garlictop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,862 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the tahini
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mung bean, lemon, garlic, shallot):
- Sesamebetter flavor fit
- Chickpeabetter flavor fit
- Beansbetter flavor fit
- Tahinithe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mung bean, lemon, garlic, shallot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.