Name: Red Curry Peanut Sauce
Yield: Makes 2 cups
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1/3 cup minced green onions (about 3); 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste; 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter; 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk; 1/2 cup (or more) low-salt chicken broth; 1 tablespoon sugar; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice; 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro; Ingredient info: Thai red curry paste and unsweetened coconut milk can be found at many supermarkets and at Southeast Asian and Indian markets.

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).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Peanut + coconuttop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together433 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Garlic + peanuttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together877 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Ginger + coconuttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,168 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 (onion, ginger, garlic, peanut, butter, coconut, milk):

Turmericfits better
Corianderfits better
Cardamomfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, ginger, garlic, peanut, butter, 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1

Red Curry Peanut Sauce