Name: Soba Noodle Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing and Toasted Quinoa
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 10 ounces, weight Soba Noodles; ½ cups Creamy Natural Peanut Butter; ¼ cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth; 3 Tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce; 1-½ Tablespoon Packed Dark Brown Sugar; 2 Tablespoons Peeled And Minced Fresh Ginger; 1 whole Lime, Juice And Zest; 2 cloves Garlic, Minced; ½ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes; 1 Tablespoon Red Curry Paste; 1 whole Shallot, Chopped; 1 Tablespoon Sriracha Chile Sauce; 6 Tablespoons Uncooked Quinoa; ½ whole Red Bell Pepper, chopped; 1 cup Finely Chopped Carrots; ¾ cups Edamame - Steamed; 3 whole Scallions, White And Green Parts, Sliced

Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 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.

Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + limetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,621 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Peanut + limetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together458 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together909 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Peanut + gingertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together524 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peanut, butter, chicken, sauce, sugar, ginger, lime):

Corianderfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Cardamomfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peanut, butter, chicken, sauce, sugar, ginger, lime. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Quinoa	1 cup cooked (185g)	222
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Edamame	1/2 cup (78g) shelled	120
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Sriracha	1 tsp (5g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Sauce	not in our table	0

Soba Noodle Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing and Toasted Quinoa