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Super Easy and Spicy Black Eyed Pea and Corn Salsa

"I came up with this topping/side dish while trying to figure out how I could get the only two vegetables my husband eats into one dish. It's great over pan-fried fish, a healthy alternative to queso on enchiladas, and wonderful with brown rice. It's spicy and simple. Like our love!"

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Jalapeno and black-eyed pea share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 36 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep10 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Pour the drained black-eyed peas and drained whole kernel corn into a medium saucepan.

  2. Add the undrained diced tomatoes with green chiles, the light brown sugar, ground cumin, and curry powder, and stir to combine.

  3. Set the pan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally.

  4. Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the liquid has thickened slightly and the flavors have blended.

  5. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed, then transfer to a bowl.

  6. Serve warm or let cool and chill before serving as a salsa with chips.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Jalapeno + black-eyed peatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together36 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Tomato + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,272 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Jalapeno + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Corn + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,098 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Black-eyed pea + cumintop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together24 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the jalapeno

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (black-eyed pea, corn, tomato, pepper, sugar, cumin):

  1. Corianderbetter flavor fit
  2. Oreganobetter flavor fit
  3. Basilabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Jalapenothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against black-eyed pea, corn, tomato, pepper, sugar, cumin. 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).